Pastor Charged with Accessing Child Pornography

Stephen Pohl, a 57-year-old former pastor of a Louisville parish, has been charged by a grand jury indictment with violating federal child exploitation laws. Pohl, who was the pastor of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Community, is accused of knowingly accessing, via the Internet, with intent to view material that contained images of child pornography between January and August 2015.

The indictment charges Pohl with violating federal child exploitation laws, which carry a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release. If convicted, Pohl will face these penalties.

Pohl was initially charged with the same offense by a criminal complaint on August 21, 2015. The complaint was filed after law enforcement officials executed two federal search warrants on August 12, 2015, in the work and living areas used by Pohl in the parish office and rectory of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Community, located at 7813 Shelbyville Road, in Louisville, Kentucky.

Pohl was arrested in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, on Friday evening, August 21, 2015. He was then held at the Pinellas County Jail until his transfer to the custody of the United States Marshals Service. On September 2, 2015, Pohl appeared in United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in conjunction with the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

The charging of a person by a grand jury indictment is an accusation only, and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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