Racine Catholic Priest Won't Face Charges for Facebook Images

By Annysa Johnson
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
November 22, 2013

http://www.jsonline.com/news/religion/racine-catholic-priest-wont-face-charges-for-facebook-images-b99148911z1-233092951.html

A Racine Catholic priest removed for posting questionable images on his Facebook page will not face criminal charges, the Kenosha Police Department said Friday.

It was not immediately clear whether Father Ireneusz Chodakowski will return as pastor at St. Peter's Catholic Parish. Archdiocese of Milwaukee spokesman Jerry Topczewski said that will be up to his religious order, the Massachusetts-based Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. An attorney for the order declined to comment Friday other than to say it is undertaking its own investigation of the matter.

Chodakowski, who had been at St. Peter's since 2010, was removed last week after someone complained that images on his Facebook account could be potentially pornographic.

Kenosha police issued a statement late Friday saying they conferred with the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation and the Kenosha County district attorney's office as part of the probe and determined that no crime had occurred. Kenosha police said they concurred with the archdiocese's assessment of the situation as poor judgment on the part of the priest.

Neither the archdiocese nor the police department responded to questions about the nature of the images, which appear to have been removed from the site.