KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Joseph News-Press
By Kim Norvell | St. Joseph News-Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A local priest in the middle of a child pornography scandal has been sentenced to 50 years in federal prison.
The Rev. Shawn F. Ratigan learned his fate Thursday afternoon — more than a year after he pleaded guilty to five counts of producing or attempting to produce child pornography, and more than two years after his initial arrest.
Each count represented the five children he victimized between 2005 and 2011. Federal prosecutors maintained the Rev. Ratigan took lewd images of the girls, who were between the ages of 2 and 12 years old and were parishioners at the various churches and schools where he worked.
The 47-year-old was the parochial administrator for both St. Mary Church in St. Joseph and St. Joseph Mission in Easton, Mo.; and a chaplain at Bishop LeBlond High School from July 2005 to June 2009. He later moved to St. Patrick Catholic Church in Kansas City.
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