Former Catholic Priest from Novi Faces Porn Charges

By Oralandar Brand-Williams
Detroit News
December 20, 2012

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121220/METRO01/212200489/1361/Former-Catholic-priest-from-Novi-priest-faces-porn-charges

A former local Catholic priest has been arrested and charged with downloading child pornography.

Timothy Murray, a 62-year-old Novi resident and former pastor of St. Edith Parish in Livonia, appeared in federal court Thursday on the charges and was temporarily detained.

A detention hearing for Murray is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelson.

According to the federal charges against Murray, he was detected by undercover U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators downloading pornographic pictures of naked young children engaged in sexual poses on his personal computer beginning in May and continuing through November.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security agents executed a search warrant of Murray's Novi residence. The former priest voluntarily went to the Novi Police Department where, according to the federal indictment, he admitted that he used special software to download child porn and that he has about 500 images and videos of child porn that he downloaded from the Internet onto his computer.

Federal investigators say Murray also admitted that he views child pornography weekly. Murray also allegedly told investigators that his preference is 13-year-old boys.

The videos Murray viewed on his computer "contained images of minor boys between the ages of approximately 6 to 16 year olds displaying their genitals in a (suggestive) manner and/or engaging in sexual contact with other minor boys and/or adults," according to the federal complaint unsealed Thursday.

In 2004, Murray was removed from public ministry for the Archdiocese of Detroit on allegations that he was having sex with a minor. The allegations stemmed from an alleged incident that occurred more than 30 years ago.

Civil authorities chose not to investigate further because too much time had elapsed.

Efforts to reach Murray were not successful.

Contact: bwilliams@detnews.com