Missouri priest charged in federal child pornography indictment
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A federal grand jury in Missouri indicted a jailed Catholic priest on Tuesday on fresh child pornography charges including that he took sexually explicit photos of girls as young as two years old.
The Reverend Shawn Ratigan, 45, was charged with 13 counts in all, including 11 counts of producing or attempting to produce child pornography and two counts of possessing it.
According to the federal indictment, Ratigan took or attempted to take sexually explicit photos of at least five young girls beginning in 2005, shortly after he was ordained, through the spring of 2011, before he was arrested.
The victims ranged in age from two to 12 years old.
The indictment alleges that some of the photographs, including those involving the 2-year-old child, were taken inside the choir loft of the church in Easton, Missouri where he worked.
The sexually explicit images were found on Ratigan's laptop by church officials and turned over to authorities.
Ratigan, who is already in custody on related state child pornography possession charges filed in May, faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison without parole if he is found guilty on all the federal charges.
The charges against him are the latest to rock the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, which agreed to pay $10 million three years ago to settle clergy sexual abuse charges.
In June, Bishop Robert Finn enlisted the help of Todd Graves, a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, to help the diocese look into allegations against Ratigan.
(Reporting by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
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