Stephen A. Pohl, Child Pornography, Kentucky 2015

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A former pastor of a Louisville parish has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for viewing child pornography.

Stephen A. Pohl, 57, was sentenced by United States District Judge David J. Hale on [date] for violating federal child exploitation laws, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.

Pohl pleaded guilty to a single charge of knowingly accessing, via the Internet, with intent to view material that contained images of child pornography between January and August 2015.

Under federal law, child pornography involves visual depictions of minors under the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Pohl was initially charged with the same offense by criminal complaint on August 21, 2015.

The investigation began after a child told his mother that Pohl had taken pictures of him that made him feel “weird.”

When the child’s parents confronted Pohl about the pictures of their son, they saw similar pictures of another child and reported the matter to law enforcement.

Pohl was arrested in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, on Friday evening, August 21, 2015, and held at the Pinellas County Jail until his transfer to the custody of the United States Marshals Service.

Pohl will remain in custody until designation by the Bureau of Prisons.

Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless prosecuted the case.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in conjunction with Louisville Metro Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit conducted the investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

Sex Crimes

Arnold Castillo, Enticement of a Minor and Interstate Transportation of a Minor, Indiana 2022

Jul 29, 2022

Sex Crimes

Emily Windsor, Embezzlement, Pennsylvania 2019

Jul 15, 1908

Sex Crimes

Descart Austin Begay Jr., Rape, Minnesota 2020

Apr 4, 2023

Sex Crimes

Matthew Stitt-Johnson, Child Exploitation, District of Columbia 2023

Aug 29, 2022