Priest Who Posed As Teenage Girl Arrested on Child Porn Charges -- after He Posted the Lewd Pics to Instagram

By Marc Weinreich
New York Daily News
October 24, 2014

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/priest-arrested-posting-child-porn-instagram-article-1.1986176

Rev. Mark Haynes, 55, has been placed on administrative leave by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which called the child porn charges ‘serious and disturbing.’

A Philadelphia-area priest who pretended to be a teenage girl in an email with a minor in order to get lewd photos of her has been arrested on child porn charges after he allegedly posted the pics to an Instagram account -- and the District Attorney handling the case is reportedly concerned there may be other victims.

Rev. Mark Haynes, a 55-year-old priest at the Saints Simon & Jude Parish in Westtown Township, Pennsylvania, was arrested by Chester County law enforcement officials after a local detective was notified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an Instagram account was posting child pornography, authorities announced in a CBS Philadelphia report Friday.

Haynes posted several photos of a nude 14-year-old girl that he allegedly obtained via graphic email exchanges with her in which he posed as 16-year-old female.

It's not immediately clear how he initially obtained her contact information, but the District Attorney said in the report that Haynes had been in "close proximity to children" because of the nature of his job.

The email address that was linked to the social media account had allegedly been traced to the rectory building at the parish and a pastor there later confirmed to the detective that the address belonged to Haynes. A further investigation by authorities revealed that he had posted a "multitude of other images of child pornography," according to the report.

He is now charged with felony counts of Sexual Abuse of Children—Child Pornography and Criminal Use of a Communication Facility.

On Friday, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia called the charges “serious and disturbing” and confirmed that he has been placed on administrative leave and is forbidden from presenting himself in public as a priest, in addition to practicing certain religious rituals.

Haynes was ordained in 1985 and has served as Parochial Vicar at Saints Simon & Jude since September 2013. His bail was set at $200,000 but he failed to post it and remains in Chester County prison