Lothar Konrad Krauth, a former Great Falls priest who admitted receiving child pornography on his computer, was sentenced in federal court on Thursday.
Krauth, 81, was sentenced to five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said in a press release.
Krauth pleaded guilty in April to receipt of child pornography.
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris presided, and also ordered $9,000 restitution.
The prosecution said in court records that agents from the Great Falls Homeland Security Investigations team received a CyberTipline report in October 2018 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. NCMEC reported that the user of an internet provider address in Great Falls had uploaded an image of a nude prepubescent boy. An investigation found the address belonged to Krauth.
HSI and Great Falls police executed a search warrant at Krauth’s residence on Oct. 26, 2018 and seized about 20 items of electronic media, including a desktop computer, external hard drives, thumb drives and more. A search of the electronic media found thousands of images of child porn, including images of prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
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Related: Retired Great Falls priest pleads guilty to child porn charge
