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  Probable Cause Hearing Delayed for Asheville Priest, John Schneider

By John Boyle
Citizen-Times
September 15, 2009

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090915/NEWS01/90915037

A probable cause hearing was postponed this morning for the Rev. John Schneider, the former pastor of St. Eugene Catholic Church who is accused of deleting hundreds of pornographic images from the home computer of his former music minister.

Schneider appeared briefly this morning in District Court at the Buncombe County Courthouse, but his attorney, David Belser, handled the postponement request. The hearing is now set for Oct. 16.

Schneider resigned as pastor in June after being charged with felony obstruction of justice. St. Eugene has about 1,000 families as members.

Schneider, 56, quickly left the courthouse after conferring briefly with Belser in the hallway. He is out on a $10,000 bond.

A warrant states that Schneider entered the North Ridge Drive apartment of former music minister Paul Lawrence Berrell on May 18 and deleted hundreds of pornographic images of children, "in secret and with malice," during a criminal investigation of Berrell.

The police that day had charged Berrell, 29, with taking indecent liberties with a minor, following a complaint from a parent, according to a police report.

Berrell also was charged May 23 with nine counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after police searched his residence. Then on June 1 a grand jury indicted him on two counts of indecent liberties and one count of statutory sex offense.

The acts involved a 13-year-old girl and took place on Aug. 15 and April 21, according to the indictments. Berrell's bond was set at $1.5 million.

 
 

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