Former Wisconsin Lutheran Church Official Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Possession

By John Pilmaier
SNAP Wisconsin
March 10, 2012

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Former Wisconsin Lutheran church official pleads guilty to child porn possession Hochmuth was Director of Communications for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)

The former Director of Communications for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), Joel Hochmuth, pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of possessing child pornography. Hochmuth was arrested in November after the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force determined he had downloaded and shared child pornography over the internet.

Hochmuth's guilty plea, in exchange for two other charges being dropped, will avert a jury trial which was scheduled to begin this week. Hochmuth has since been terminated from his position at the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The president of the WELS, Reverend Mark Schroeder, issued a statement following Hochmuth's arrest in which he stated that the "WELS has absolutely no tolerance for the kind of behavior that has been alleged". Despite this stated policy the FBI agents who searched Hochmuth's office at the WELS found 310 images and 38 videos of child pornography.

In the aftermath of Hochmuth's arrest and guilty plea it is imperative that Schroeder immediately inform the community and the Synod of the actions he intends to take to ensure that children in his church are safe. It is not enough to state that there will be "no tolerance" for this behavior, rather concrete policies and procedures must be implemented to secure the safety of children in the church's care.

The Waukesha County District Attorney's Office and the FBI are to be commended for their investigation and prosecution of this heinous crime. It is law enforcement, not church officials, who are best equipped to review charges of sexual misconduct against children.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around for 23 years and have more than 10,000 members. Despite the word "priest" in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our national website is SNAPnetwork.org.

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