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| FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Clay County, Mo., Detention Center shows Rev. Shawn Ratigan. Ratigan, whose child pornography case led to a criminal conviction against a Roman Catholic bishop, was sentenced Thursday. Sept. 12, 2013, to 50 years in federal prison. |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Kansas City-area priest whose case led to a criminal conviction against his bishop will likely spend the rest of his life in a federal prison after being sentenced to 50 years on Thursday for producing or trying to produce child pornography.
The
Rev. Shawn Ratigan pleaded guilty in August of last year to five counts
- one for each of his five young victims. He was charged in May 2011
after police received a flash drive from his computer containing
hundreds of images of children, most of them clothed, with the focus on
their crotch areas.
Ratigan, 47, apologized to
his victims and their families before learning his punishment and asked
the judge for the statutory minimum sentence of 15 years for each
count, with the terms to all run at the same time.
"Prison is hell," Ratigan said. "I know I deserve 15 years, but 50 years? Come on, I don't think so."
His
public defender, Robert Kuchar, argued that Ratigan's offenses weren't
as bad as those of other child pornographers whose photos are more
graphic and often include images of the victims participating in sexual
acts.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine
Fincham described Ratigan as a serial sex offender who was arrogant and
had a sense of entitlement he thought would keep him from getting
caught. She said he deserved the long sentence because he violated the
trust of his victims and their families by using his position as a
clergyman to get close enough to them to take illicit photos of the
children.
A computer technician working on
Ratigan's laptop in December 2010 found hundreds of troubling images of
young girls and reported it to officials with the Catholic Diocese of
Kansas City-St. Joseph. Instead of turning the photos over to police or
reporting suspicions about Ratigan, Bishop Robert Finn sent him away for
psychiatric evaluation and later ordered him to stay at a convent where
he could say Mass for the sisters and stay away from children.
The photos were given to police in May 2011 after Ratigan violated Finn's orders.
Jackson
County prosecutors charged Finn and the diocese in October 2011 with
one misdemeanor charge each of failing to report suspected child abuse,
because of the five-month delay between when the photos were found on
Ratigan's computer and when the diocese reported him to police.
Prosecutor
Jean Peters Baker said Finn and the diocese were required under state
law to report the discovery to police because the images gave them
reason to believe a child had been abused.
Finn
was convicted of one count last September and sentenced to two years of
supervised probation. The charge against the diocese was dropped.
If Finn abides by a set of stipulations from the judge, his conviction will be wiped from his record next year.
On
Thursday, parents of one of Ratigan's victims said a 50-year sentence
was sufficient so that he will never be able to harm the children again.
"We
witnessed our outgoing, vibrant little girl become depressed,
withdrawn, anxious," her mother said, sobbing at times. "She's too
scared now to trust anyone of authority."
Complaints
against Ratigan, who was ordained in 2004 at the age of 38, began
piling up in 2009 as parents became concerned he was spending too much
time with children and taking too many photos of the youths while they
played and participated in church events.
A
May 19, 2010, letter from St. Patrick School Principal Julie Hess
mentioned how several people had complained that Ratigan was taking
compromising photos of children and allowed them to sit on his lap and
reach into his pocket for candy.
Vicar General
Robert Murphy, who received the letter, spoke with Ratigan about
setting boundaries with children, then gave a summary to the bishop.
Finn later acknowledged that Murphy had briefed him on the memo, but he
didn't read it until a year later.
The diocese
issued a statement on behalf of Finn after Ratigan's sentencing,
apologizing for the priest's actions and saying many steps have been
taken to protect children since his arrest.
"To
victims of abuse, their families and the community at large, I renew my
heartfelt apology and firm pledge to make our Catholic institutions
second to none in the protection of children and the vulnerable," Finn
said in the statement.
Kuchar said he plans to appeal Ratigan's sentence.
