CBS Philly
February 8, 2017 9:42 PM
WILMINGTON, De. (CBS) — John Lee, 51, has been sentenced to 30 years behind bars for the production and distribution of child pornography. Lee is a former U.S. Navy Lt. Commander and ordained Catholic priest.
Lee was sentenced on Wednesday in Delaware.
Officials say Lee pleaded guilty to the production and distribution of child pornography.
In 2007, officials say Lee became a registered sex offender after sexually assaulting another Naval officer while serving as a Naval Academy chaplain.
Investigators say Lee uploaded child pornography to several social networking sites. Police found thousands of images of child pornography on Lee’s electronic devices. Authorities add that Lee convinced several youths to send him pornographic images of themselves.
They add that Lee traded images with other adults online.
Lee will also serve a lifetime term of supervised release.
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Fmr. Navy chaplain from Millsboro sentenced 30 years in prison for child porn
WMDT (MD)
Posted: Feb 08, 2017 05:59 PM ESTUpdated: Feb 08, 2017 06:00 PM EST
WILMINGTON, Del. – A former Catholic priest and U.S. Navy Lt. Commander was sentenced Wednesday for charges related to producing and distributing child pornography.
John Thomas Matthew Lee, 51, of Millsboro was sentenced to 30 years in prison and a lifetime term of supervised release, the Department of Justice said.
Back in November 2015, Lee pleaded guilty to a count of child pornography production and a count of distributing child pornography.
Lee was already a registered sex offender following a conviction and prison term in 2007 for sexually assaulting a Naval officer while he was serving as a chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Lee was arrested in November of 2014 when investigators with U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations linked Lee with social networking accounts that had been uploading child pornography to multiple websites.
According to information from the U.S. Department of Justice, agents found tens of thousands of child pornography images on Lee’s computers and phone.
Lee had successfully solicited several juveniles to send him sexually explicit images of themselves.
The case against Lee was prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Edmond Falgowski of the District of Delaware.
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Judge delays former Navy chaplain’s child porn sentencing
WMDT
DOVER, Del. – (AP) – A federal judge has again postponed the child pornography sentencing of a former Navy chaplain and Catholic priest who sexually assaulted a Naval Academy midshipman years ago.
Tuesday’s scheduled sentencing for 50-year-old John Thomas Matthew Lee of Millsboro has been postponed until February. The latest in a series of sentencing delays came after Lee’s attorney complained that prosecutors now want the maximum 50-year sentence after saying they would ask for about 25 years behind bars.
Lee pleaded guilty in November to producing and distributing child pornography. Authorities say he uploaded child pornography to social networking sites and persuaded several children to send him pornographic images of themselves.
Lee served prison time after a 2007 court-martial on charges including forcible sodomy and failing to tell a sex partner he was HIV-positive.
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A former Navy chaplain and Catholic priest who sexually assaulted a Naval Academy midshipman years ago is facing sentencing on federal child pornography charges.
Sentencing for John Thomas Matthew Lee of Millsboro, which has been postponed several times, is now set for next Wednesday.
Lee, who faces up to 50 years in prison, pleaded guilty last November to production and distribution of child pornography.
Lee was court-martialed in 2007 on charges including forcible sodomy and failing to tell a sex partner he was HIV-positive, and he served time in prison.
Lee, who registered as a sex offender in Delaware in 2013, was arrested in 2014 after a multistate investigation.
Authorities say Lee uploaded child pornography to social networking sites and persuaded several juveniles to send him pornographic images of themselves.
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Former Navy chaplain and Catholic priest pleads guilty in child porn case years after he was sent to jail for failing to declare he had HIV to a sexual partner
Daily Mail Online
- John Thomas Matthew Lee, 50, of Millsboro pleaded guilty on Monday to uploading child pornography
- He also got juveniles to send him pornographic images of themselves
- Lee was court-martialed in 2007 on charges including forcible sodomy and failing to tell a sex partner he was HIV-positive
- He could face up to 50 years in prison when he is sentenced in March for the latest offenses
A former Navy chaplain and Catholic priest who sexually assaulted a Naval Academy midshipman years ago and failed to tell a sexual partner he had HIV is facing up to 50 years in prison for child pornography.
John Thomas Matthew Lee, 50, of Millsboro, pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court in Delaware to production and distribution of child pornography.
Lee, who was indicted in June, faces sentencing on March 2, and could be given 15 to 30 years in federal prison for production of child pornography and five to 20 years for distribution. If the sentences are handed to him concurrently, that means up to 50 years in prison.
He has already served two years following his arrest in 2013.
John Thomas Matthew Lee, 50, of Millsboro is pictured in this 2007 photo with his face covered with a jacket as he is escorted out of the courtroom by Lt. Commander John Thomas Lee
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Former Navy Chaplain Pleads Guilty in Child Porn Case
WBOC 16
Posted: Nov 16, 2015 1:32 PM EST
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A former Navy chaplain and Catholic priest who pleaded guilty years ago to sexually assaulting a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman is scheduled to plead guilty to child pornography charges.
John Thomas Matthew Lee, 50, of Millsboro, will stand before Judge Leonard P. Stark for a plea hearing on Nov. 16 in Dover, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Federal prosecutors say Lee has agreed to plead guilty to charges of production and distribution of child pornography. He was indicted on the charges in June and could face up to life in prison.
Extensive photos and communication with young boys were recovered on phones and computer files in Lee’s home, according to court documents.
Lee was court-martialed in 2007 on charges including forcible sodomy and failing to tell a sex partner he was HIV-positive. He was sentenced to no more than two years in prison.
Lee, who registered as a sex offender in Delaware in 2013, was arrested last November after a multi-state investigation that began later that year.
The Associated Press contributed. Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.
Imagine! 30 years for production and distribution of child pornography. Can you imagine ever seeing a sentence in Canada remotely close to that?
I went hunting and hunting for further information here. I THINK Lee has been defrocked , but am not 100% certain. Two or three of the articles refer to him as a former priest, but, as you know, it is not uncommon for the media to refer to a priest who is not currently in active ministry as a “former” priest. Still, I do get the impression that, after he was convicted for sexually assaulting a Naval officer back in 2007, Lee was out of the priesthood, either because he was defrocked, or because he himself asked to be ‘reduced to the lay state.’ Does anyone know for certain one way or the other??
Sylvia, I just reread the letter put out by the Archbishop of Ottawa dated May 18, 2016, regarding how he describes the way , in future, he would deal with cases of Priests abusing children. I think he should be reminded of what he said he would do. Tim
Sylvia, that sentence is definitely startling. I am wondering if there is something else involved in this matter that has not hit the public domain yet. Mike.
If you are not factoring-in that Lee was court-martialed in 2007 and that in the US his kiddy porn charges involve Federal concurrent infractions then yes the sentence can appear to be unusually high. But in fact it was well within the range. Part of the problem of sentencing guidelines in Canada for such crimes is that there is no proportionality between the crimes and the damages to victim in Canada. We don`t have a sentencing option of capital punishment either; and so the goal posts aren`t were they are in the US and other jurisdictions. There is so much that our courts can do to increase the severity of sentences in Canada. It really does need to be legislated. Fortunately as the Church has now zero credibility and effectiveness as a lobbyist in Ottawa (because it`s run out of cash to influence political operators and because it’s own civil liability insurers aren’t willing to support it politically) we`re seeing more and more public outrage directed at the Church and that translates into direct political pressure on legislators. Sylvia`s site being a prime example of this (most justified) intolerance… But sentences alone won’t fix it. What it mostly needs is more funding; for more crown prosecutors, more crown staff; more funding to law-enforcement etc.