MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
October 25
BY GLENN E. RICE
The Kansas City Star
The final criminal chapter in the child pornography case against a Northland Catholic priest concluded Friday when the Rev. Shawn F. Ratigan pleaded guilty in Clay County Circuit Court to three counts of possessing child pornography.
Ratigan was sentenced to seven years in prison on each felony charge, with the 21-year combined sentence to run concurrent to the 50-year sentence that he recently received in federal court for producing child pornography.
“There are certain offenses that shock the conscience when the defendant takes advantage of people who are unable to defend themselves, and this is one of those cases,” Presiding Circuit Judge Larry D. Harman said when announcing the sentence in Liberty.
Earlier in the hearing, Harman asked Ratigan to explain in his own words the crimes he committed.
Ratigan simply stated, “I possessed them.”
Harman asked if Ratigan was aware that possessing child pornography was illegal.
“Yes sir,” the 48-year-old priest answered.
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