Child porn charges filed against fmr. Wausau priest

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW, AP) - Charges have been filed against a former Roman Catholic priest from Wausau, alleging the convicted sex offender had child porn in his possession.

According to an Associated Press story from 2002, Timothy Svea, 59, was sentenced to 18 months in jail and 20 years of probation after pleading guilty to molesting and exposing himself to teenage boys under his care at two churches.

A charge was filed Thursday in Marathon County for the lifetime sex offender registrant for possessing child pornography. No future court date has been scheduled.

2002 conviction

In 2002, Svea was convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a child under 16 and several counts of exposing himself to a child. Svea also pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment.

``I’ve hurt these young men and I’ve hurt their families,″ Svea told then-Marathon County Circuit Judge Patrick Brady, at the time. ``I’ve hurt the church and I’ve offended my God.″

Then-District Attorney Jill Falstad said Svea had shown remorse and cooperated with authorities, but he abused his position as a religious leader, abusing the boys and giving them sleeping pills and alcohol.

``Father Svea’s crimes quite simply are reprehensible,″ she said.

According to court records, the victims were boys as young as 15 who had volunteered for mission work with the Institute of Christ the King, a non-diocesan international religious group based in Florence, Italy.

The abuse began in 1998 while Svea headed the mission group in St. Mary’s Ridge in Monroe County and continued when the priest and the volunteers moved the group to St. Mary Catholic Church in April 1999, court records said.

One of the boys told investigators that Svea gave him weekly massages in which he molested the boy and showed him pornographic pictures, court records said. The boy said in one incident, he was handcuffed and bound to a bed.

Then-Monsignor Michael Schmitz said that the Institute of Christ the King suspended Svea from all duties after the allegations surfaced in March 2001.

Svea has spent 11 months in treatment at St. Luke Institute near Washington, D.C., authorities said.

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