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| Father Christopher King, 51, has been arrested for possession of child pornography and methamphetamine, authorities said. (POLICE PHOTO) |
Thou shall not do anything like reviled Rev. Christopher King.
The Episcopal priest’s Long Island home was exposed as a den of perversion in a police raid that found graphic kiddie porn on his computer and crystal meth in his church office, authorities said on Saturday.
King, 51, was led away in handcuffs and jailed after cops discovered the cyber-stash of repugnant videos made with sex abuse victims as young as 2 years old, according to a criminal complaint.
The five clips pulled from the twisted priest’s computer showed an assortment of underage boys — including the 2-year-old toddler — engaged in sex acts with adult males or one another, a criminal complaint charged.
Another disturbing clip showed a pair of preteen boys videotaped during a sexual encounter, the complaint said.
A tip led Nassau County police to the sordid Long Beach lair of the vile vicar, who was arrested inside his parish residence Friday night.
The veteran cleric was immediately removed from any religious role in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island once the allegations were made public on Saturday.
“The diocese and the entire Episcopal Church have a zero tolerance policy with respect to criminal conduct of any kind,” read a statement from Bishop Lawrence Provenzano.
“As a result of these allegations, I have today terminated Father King’s license to function as an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Long Island.”
Stunned parishioners at St. James of Jerusalem Episcopal Church awoke Saturday to learn their spiritual leader was accused of moral bankruptcy.
“He was a very sweet man,” said one woman attending a morning yoga class at the shore front church. “That’s all I can tell you.”
A former church official who knew King was boggled to learn of the arrest.
“I never heard anything like this, no,” the ex-parishioner said. “I’m kind of shocked.”
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| King was a priest at the St. James Episcopal Church of Long Beach, NY. (GOOGLE MAPS) |
The suspected sicko served as youth director for the Episcopal Diocese of New York between 1999 and 2004. A photo on the St. James website showed King surrounded by kids at a 2009 Christmas service.
“Everybody trusted him,” another parishioner said at the church on Saturday.
The cops arrived with a search warrant around 6 p.m. Friday and scoured the bald, bearded priest’s home, quickly turning up the stomach-turning images along with the drugs, according to cops.
Prosecutors charged King with possession of 12 grams of crystal methamphetamine found in his church office and bedroom. Another 38 non prescribed Xanax pills were left on top of a dresser in King’s bedroom.
Cops also recovered drug-related paraphernalia from the vicar’s residence at the church where he arrived in January 2008.
The videos were found during an on-site examination of the computer.
The suspect was ordered held on $100,000 bond or $50,000 cash bail after pleading not guilty at his Saturday morning arraignment in Hempstead.
King was due for his next court appearance on Tuesday in Nassau County Court. Authorities provided no details on the origin of the tip that led to the arrest of the priest.
The vicar faces five counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child and two counts of drug possession.
He was accused of possession of the videos containing “any performance which included sexual conduct by a child less than 16 years old,” according to state criminal statutes.
Provenzano assured parishioners at the church that the diocese would “provide pastoral care and consult with the congregation and any others impacted by these charges.”
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