Local
Priest facing child pornography charges after disturbing search of his Malaga home
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During a search of his apartment, as well as 400,000 images and video files, police also found realistic-looking dolls of naked children
A priest is facing a court in Malaga after police found hundreds of thousands of child pornography files on his computer after tracing his location via his network's Internet Protocol (IP) address.
During a search of the property National Police investigators also found realistic-looking dolls of naked children on his living room floor and, in an adjoining room, a multitude of used condoms and hundreds of items of children's clothing and sweets.
The alleged crimes came to light after authorities in the US tipped off Spanish police that IP addresses from the Malaga area were accessing paedophile networks in the States.
One of the leads finally led to the home of the man who had served as a religious education teacher in Madrid for 12 years after his ordination as a priest in May 2003. He moved to Malaga in October 2017 to take care of his elderly mother and moved next door to her.
Initially the IP trace led police to the woman’s house and there they found various computer equipment and mass storage devices. Officers then searched the priest’s apartment and found hard drives with more than 400,000 images and videos of child pornography as well as the dolls, condoms and childrens' clothing.
Prosecutors are calling for a nine-year prison sentence for the alleged crimes of the possession and distribution of child pornography.
