Former Westtown priest pleads guilty

PHILADELPHIA >> A former priest at Ss. Simon and Jude Church in Westtown pleaded guilty Monday to criminal charges involving child pornography and other offenses involving sexual misconduct with children, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Mark Haynes, 56, of West Chester, pleaded guilty In U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to all counts contained in a superseding information filed by U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger charging child exploitation. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 10. Haynes faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison with a maximum sentence of life, possible fines, and at least five years up to a lifetime of supervised release.

Haynes, a former parochial vicar at a number of churches in the Delaware Valley, pleaded guilty to using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct, transfer of obscene material to a minor, distribution of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and destruction or concealment of evidence.

According to court documents, around 2010, Haynes posed as a 16-year old girl named “Katie” on a teen dating website. As “Katie,” Haynes would meet minor girls online and allegedly request that they take and send sexually explicit pictures. Haynes is also charged with distributing other images and videos of children being sexually assaulted over the Internet in 2014, again posing as “Katie.”