Christopher Jarvis, Catholic Church Sex Abuse Investigator, Jailed For Child Porn Possession
A Catholic Church pedophile abuse investigator is serving time in jail after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography on a laptop and camera memory stick.
Christopher Jarvis admitted to "possessing, making and distributing indecent images of children," the BBC reports. Jarvis, who was hired by the church as a child safety coordinator in 2002 in the English diocese, was first arrested in March.
More than 4,000 images of primarily boys between ages 10 and 12 were found on the 49-year-old's camera memory stick and a church laptop. Some of the photos included images of child rape, the Irish Examiner reports. He uploaded some of the photos to Ning, a social networking website.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth ordered an investigation of child safety practices in South West of England after the allegations against Jarvis surfaced, but a statement released by the diocese found "no evidence that he had acted improperly in his role with the church," according to the Irish Examiner.
The Plymouth Herald notes that Jarvis, who was abused as a child, worked exclusively with adults during his investigations.
Previous maintenance on the computer uncovered that past searches had been conducted for words such as "young" and "boy," the Plymouth Herald points out, but no actions were taken.
One diocese official says he was surprised to learn about Jarvis' actions but stressed "this particular incident was not a systemic issue in the Roman Catholic Church. It is more about an individual who had got himself into a position of trust," the BBC reports.
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The Huffington Post Ileana Llorens First Posted: 11/14/11 12:11 PM ET Updated: 11/21/11 07:02 PM ET