MOBILE, Ala. (WMPI) - A St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church deacon could spend 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography. According to records filed Monday in federal court, Robert L. Nouwen accepted a plea agreement from U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown.
Brown's office released a statement about the plea Wednesday sharing some details on the investigation.
The U.S. Postal Service and Toronto Police Service launched a joint investigation into a movie production company in October 2010. "The majority of the films featured young boys and were marketed as 'naturist films,'" Brown said in a news release. Between February and April 2011, the statement said, investigators made 6 controlled purchases of DVDs from an online company. "The videos were reviewed and contained the visual depiction of minor boys engaged in lascivious exhibition of the genitals."
Investigators obtained a search warrant for the Toronto company. Records from the company revealed Nouwen as someone who had placed orders 7 times between January 2011 and April 2011. The case led investigators to Nouwen's Avalon Drive home in Mobile. It was there, Brown said, Nouwen admitted to investigators he ordered the movies and watched them. The statement said Nouwen claimed he destroyed the videos after watching them.
No one answered the door at Nouwen's home. "Technically, he did violate the law by possessing those," Nouwen's attorney Gordon Armstrong told Local 15 News Reporter Darwin Singleton, who broke the story Tuesday. "They were not sexual in nature, they did depict nudity; adolescent boys and categorized as naturist films, they did not depict any sexual acts or anything like that," Armstrong said.
RELATED STORY: EXCLUSIVE - Archdiocese confirms deacon investigated for child pornNouwen was "immediately placed on administrative leave," according a written statement by Archbishop Thomas Rodi. The Catholic leader said the office was cooperating with authorities, but did not specify when it learned of the investigation into Nouwen's purchases or how long it took to notify parishioners. "Administrative leave means that Deacon Nouwen cannot exercise any ministry," the statement said.
When asked for a more specific timeline, a man who refused to identify himself, but was wearing a clerical collar, did not want to answer questions. "I'm not speaking to you," he told Local 15 News Reporter Derrick Rose. Neighbors said the man was a father at St. Vincent.
Local 15 News learned some parishioners were told of the news at a meeting, but parents whose children attend St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School next door only learned through television reports. "To live next door to the Catholic Church and know a bunch of the people, it's a shocker," neighbor Laura Hudson said.
While there are no allegations or charges against the deacon regarding any of the students at the school, child advocates said parents should not be afraid to ask their children questions. "I would think that they should seek more information," Mobile Child Advocacy Center Executive Director Patrick Guyton said, "They certainly shouldn't feel guilty in asking what's happened, and any children he may have had access to within the ministry, because, after all, this is ordained ministry in the Catholic Church."
The 10-year prison term and $250,000 fine are maximum penalties under sentencing guidelines, Armstrong said. A judge could issue those limits or lesser sentences.
Nouwen scheduled to be sentenced in March 2013.
