In Westchester, New York, a pastor was arrested on Wednesday by the FBI for allegedly trading sexually explicit images and texts with a 15-year-old teen.
Francis Hughes is a 65-year-old priest in Queens and was reported as saying that he had attempted to meet other minors for sex numerous times.
Hughes was listed as pastor of St. Pancras Roman Catholic Church in Glendale, New York.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss stated that the allegations are rather alarming and scary to any parent. A person, who is expected to be trustworthy, allegedly victimized a child.
According to the FBI, in February, through the gay hook-up app Grindr, Hughes had met the teen. Shortly, they began texting on their personal phone numbers.
While exchanging their texts...
When exchanging their texts, the boy reportedly sent three images of his penis to Hughes, who sent one of his own back to the teen. Hughes had responded to the image saying, "Yummmmm I will suck you so much and Make you c*m."
Hughes told the boy that he was a counselor and a part-time professor at a college. Eventually, he asked the boy about his masturbation habits and then also offered to masturbate with the boy late at night over a video call. He later sent his selfie saying, "I love you."
After a while, he had told the boy that he would like to treat him like a son or a grandson and also offered him money. The boy stated that Hughes was not the only man he was sending sexual images to and has sent them to other men also.
After being arrested, Hughes accepted that he agreed that the teen was an underage boy. He also admitted to engage in at least one in-person sexual encounter with a 15-year-old high school student.
Since the incident happened, the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn stated that Hughes is no longer at his post and has been removed.
The charges that on Hughes are one count of distributing child pornography and receipt. This can send him to prison for five to 20 years.
