Former Priest to Plead Guilty Child Porn Charges

By Brittany Horn
News Journal
October 29, 2015

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/crime/2015/10/29/former-priest-plead-guilty-child-porn-charges/74829052/

A former Navy chaplain and Catholic priest who pleaded guilty years ago to sexually assaulting a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman is scheduled to plead guilty to child pornography charges.

John Thomas Matthew Lee, 50, of Millsboro, will stand before Judge Leonard P. Stark for a plea hearing on Nov. 16 in Dover, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Federal prosecutors say Lee has agreed to plead guilty to charges of production and distribution of child pornography. He was indicted on the charges in June and could face up to life in prison.

Extensive photos and communication with young boys were recovered on phones and computer files in Lee's home, according to court documents.

Lee was court-martialed in 2007 on charges including forcible sodomy and failing to tell a sex partner he was HIV-positive. He was sentenced to no more than two years in prison.

Lee, who registered as a sex offender in Delaware in 2013, was arrested last November after a multi-state investigation that began later that year.