Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 6, 2022 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
A Kansas police detective said that Father James Jackson was the “primary target” in a child pornography investigation run by a local police department, according to a court document in Jackson’s federal case in which he has pleaded not guilty to child pornography charges.
Information regarding the Overland Park Police Department’s investigation into Jackson came to light in a petition that Jackson’s federal probation officer issued to the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island where the priest faces the federal charges.
The probation officer’s July 12 petition cited the police department’s investigation as evidence that Jackson broke the conditions of his pretrial release that were mandatory while he was allowed to live in Leawood, Kansas, with his sister, pending adjudication of the federal charges.
Jackson was originally arrested at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Providence in October 2021 after law enforcement agents allegedly found child pornography on his laptop and external hard drive. Through his lawyer, John L. Calcagni III, Jackson is now asking the court to suppress evidence found by law enforcement during the search, citing a violation of the Fourth amendment.
In the petition, Jackson’s U.S. probation officer, David A. Picozzi, said that the U.S. Probation Office in the District of Rhode Island was contacted by Overland Park Police Department Detective Christopher Moore on July 11.
Moore told the office that there was a search warrant issued for Jackson’s residence in Leawood “in response to a child pornography investigation in which Mr. Jackson was the primary target,” the petition says.
“According to Detective Moore, the child pornography investigation conducted by his agency identified internet activity linked to Mr. Jackson from May 2022 to June 2022 in which he allegedly engaged in accessing child pornography,” the petition said.
The petition said that a search of Jackson’s residence resulted in the discovery of a Microsoft Surface Pro computer and an external hard drive, both of which were “seized.”
“Detective Moore noted that Mr. Jackson appeared to have tried to concealed/hidden the devices at the time of the search and also that he was not cooperative with officers throughout the search process,” the petition said.
Moore notified the office that Jackson was not arrested during the search and added that a forensic exam of his devices will be conducted, the petition said. Pending the exam, an arrest warrant could be issued, Moore said, according to the petition.
Around the time of Jackson’s arrest in July, Overland Park Police Major James Sutterby told CNA that the department had an ongoing investigation into Jackson but he would not elaborate on the details.
Sutterby could not be reached for further comment Thursday.
Jackson’s Oct. 5 motion to suppress the evidence found in the October 2021 search by law enforcement claims that the search warrant from the Rhode Island State Police was unconstitutional.
“In Mr. Jackson’s case, the search warrant showed the premises to be searched as multiple buildings housing a church, its offices, and residences of its priests, with no showing of any investigation or attempt to narrow down the visitor, employee, or priest who might have used the IP address assigned to the facilities, at the times in question, to view the alleged pornography or the location from which the viewing occurred,” the motion says. “Therefore, the warrant is in violation of the particularity clause regarding the place to be searched.”
The motion says that “The fact that an IP address serviced the buildings did not provide an objectively reasonable belief that probable cause existed for such an exhaustive search without any attempt to narrow down, or ‘particularly describe’ the place to be searched and the things to be seized.”
According to the federal court system PACER, responses to the motion are due Oct. 19.
Picozzi alleged in the petition that Jackson “accessed child pornography and is the target of a local/state law enforcement investigation.” The petition also says that Jackson “possessed and accessed computer equipment not authorized/approved by the” probation officer.
Following Picozzi’s petition, Jackson was subsequently arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service three days later.
In Jackson’s Oct. 3 court appearance at federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, he admitted that the government could prove that he violated certain conditions of his pre-trial release.
He is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
“Law enforcement made no effort to narrow down the potential defendant among the multiple employees and priests, and parishioners of the church, or the particular device that was involved in viewing the child pornography,” Jackson’s motion said.
“Whether they could have, like the name listed on the warrant, is ‘unknown,’ but they should have tried, and no showing was made in the warrant affidavit of any attempt to do so,” the motion said.
Jackson’s trial is set for November.
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There is really nothing to say in response to this but to admit a weariness that this story has become a kind of Catholic boilerplate.
In the interest of “fairness and balance,” every piece like this should have a paragraph explaining what the presumption of innocence is and why it exists in civil law.
blah —
The principle you cite is a very worthwhile constraint on the justice system.
Not on our common sense.
See my comment below.
*why it exists in civil society.
So a priest accused of possessing child pornography is attempting to have the charges thrown out on a technicality?
I find that not at all encouraging.
Our children are under assault as never before in this insane and evil world we have created.
Amen.
Morality trumps positive law, even the Constitution of the United States. Jackson is obliged to do what is right, not try to get off on a technicality. The Constitution has no power to save.
I believe that anyone who wants to live a HOLOYLIFE must livs with the LIVING WORD OF E JESUS OUR LORD and GOD! “Heaven will pass away, the earth will pass away, but, my words will not pass away!”John 24:35-36.
“If you love me, keep my commandments!” john 14:15.To live with the WORDS of JESUS give us the GRACE to live in HIS KINGDOM= HEAVEN! In Heaven, there is only the glory of GOD which our humen minds could not preceive… It worthy of all of iur effert to get there upon our death! Jesus suffered the worst of DEAThS to bring HIS IMMORTAL Heavenly GRACE to us! “Heaven will pass away the earth will pass away, but my WORDS will not pass away!” HIS WORD are the FOOD FOR OUR IMMORTAL SOULS! LOve HIM with our TRUE HEARTS & LIVE WITHIN HIS WORDS! There is no other WAY!
I don’t think it’s prudent to comment on a case still under investigation but it’s amazing how often we’re seeing men busted for the crime alleged here. Attorneys, university employees & professors, law enforcement personnel, etc. Pretty much every walk of life & other day in the news.
I just read about a lawyer arrested & released pre-trial with access only to a device that was monitored & sure enough when the device was inspected there were new images of abused children on it. It’s got to be an addiction/obsession. Or demonic. Or all the above.
I’m so tired of this ever repeating pattern among Catholic clergy. It never ends. There are less than 500,000 priests in the world yet they manage to fill daily headlines with tales of grotesque abuse and perversion. It also seems to span the theological divide. For every Maciel there is a McCarrick and vice versa. I am starting to think that mandatory celibacy is part of the problem. There are far too many priests who are sexually immature, repressed or obsessed. Yes, other groups have this horrible problem but not to the systemic degree that the Latin branch of the Catholic Church does.
Not true. The real issue is homosexuality. No other group has been subject to such a complete inspection. Not teachers that’s for sure. The Southern Baptists just discovered how huge the problem was for them. Priests get put on the front page internationally where others get stuck in the back pages. That’s intentional. They want you to feel this way and not ask deeper questions, like why are so many homosexuals interested in other peoples children and why is the age of consent under assault? The same people who bash the Church are behind the sexualization and grooming of children.
Andrew, please go to your local news outlet & search for child porn arrests & see what & who you find. It’s overwhelmingly not Catholic clergy. Catholic clergy arrests just make better headlines.
It still shocks me that post McCarrick, the Boston Globe investigation and about 4 billion dollars in settlements across the US my fellow Catholics can still be in such denial about the problem (and those are just a few examples). Just this week alone we’ve had an FSSP priest and a Nobel prize winning bishop accused of heinous crimes (including the USUAL Vatican coverup). It’s a weekly thing, and it’s worldwide. Whole dioceses have been bankrupted and blown up over these disgusting actions by Catholic clergy. And you argue it’s just the press being mean?!?! Give me a break gang!
PS: The “teachers and other clergy are pervs too” argument is a horrible argument that is indicative of the denial Catholics have about this issue and it’s root causes. It’s just gross “what-aboutism”. It’s truly shocking that only 36,000 active US Catholic priests can produce this much damage and those many headlines.
No,no,no. The Catholic problem is that young families with children favor Latin masses and the 10 Commandments.
That is factually incorrect. A very small percentage of Catholic priests have been “credibly accused” of such crimes, and an even smaller number have been convicted or pled guilty to such offenses.
This is always disheartening and certainly not to be tolorated. I see the comments above but only one reference to addiction and pedophilia in my opinion is and addiction and apparently not successfully treated not unlike other addictions with sex, alcohol , Drugs etc. all seen in families e.g. fathers;,husbands and all requiring exposure to therapy. i have always felt that even with the Law suit settlements the Church press releases should acknowledge the issue as deplorable and add an addition contribution for Therapy for all priests and others who own up to their issues and seek help. We see it when e.g. politicians caught in something the speak of joining AA, or self commiting to a recovery program etc. Even the Church supports programs like “Rachel” for people who have had an abortion and suffering mentally after it. maybe we should here more about how the Church does help with this and other addictions. thanks for the opportunity to comment.
Kyrie eleison.
The peritnent words of wisdom from the Holy Father – on need for discernment and self knowledge
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2022/documents/20221005-udienza-generale.html
Unsure if the unsaltiness of excess ill will that prevails in certain circles have contributed to the sad situation of such addictions and issues in many lives . The need to forgive deeply -to see its depth, in asking for mercy for the whole world , through a deeper walk into forgiveness , to also help in the self knowledge …those narratives in O.T. too , of all the mishaps of persons in our ancestral lines ,
? also meant as occasions for us to forgive them , same with various political leaders and others , persons who cause scandals … for all in the whole world who have invited in the dominion of evil in one manner or other ..asking God to bless all so that there would be repentance and reparation ..to invoke forgiveness into own hearts too with trusting gratitude which many might have neglected from reasons mentioned in the above talk .
The good of being helped to walk through the process as a help to do away with lingering guilt of the past too – would same have led to freedom from the addictions .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtzlYlImtKo – around the 14 min mark –