A Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges has been defrocked by the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport said. Richard J. Poster pleaded guilty in August 2003 to receiving pictures of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He was sentenced in 2005 to one year in federal prison and was released later that same year.
Poster, the former director of liturgy and publisher of the diocese's newspaper, was arrested after church computer technicians discovered images of movies of children engaged in sex acts on his church-issued laptop computer.
He was later hired on to the maintenance staff at the diocese, but his employment included several conditions, such as direct supervision and no contact with children.
At his sentencing hearing, Poster told the judge he had no intention of returning to the priesthood.
The action of removing him from the priesthood was done at Poster's request.
Poster is listed on Iowa's Sexual Offender Registry, which shows he lives in Bluegrass.
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