| Rev. Shawn Francis Ratigan Summary of Case: A Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan priest, Ratigan was arrested in May 2011 and charged with three counts of child pornography. He was found in December 2010 by a computer repairman to have pornographic images of girls, ages 3-12, on his computer. Ratigan was pastor of a Kansas City, MO parish at the time. Ratigan survived a suicide attempt after the images were found and reported to the diocese. Parishioners were not informed of the reason for Ratigan's hospitalization, and were asked to pray for him. Families reached out to Ratigan and, despite being told by his superiors to stay away from children, Ratigan accepted invitations to family gatherings which included children. He is said to have contacted at least one 10 year-old girl on Facebook, after which her family invited him to dinner. Ratigan is said to have taken pictures of the girl with his cell phone underneath the dinner table. Diocesan officials didn't file a police report until May 2011. They had been warned in a five-page memo in May 2010 of Ratigan's inappropriate behavior with children by the principal of the parish school. Ratigan pleaded "not guilty" on May 23, 2011. Bishop Finn and the diocese were charged in Oct. 2011 with with failing to report that a child might be subject to abuse. They pleaded "not guilty", maintaining they didn't know the photos were pornographic. Ratigan changed his plea to "guilty" Aug. 2, 2012. Ordained: 2004 |
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