Shawn Ratigan Kansas City - UPI       A Catholic priest charged with possession of child pornography in Missouri may have accessed suggestive photos while living in a halfway house, documents show. The photos were found by Kansas City police on guest computers at the Vincentian Parish Mission Center in Independence, the Kansas City Star reported.
The Rev. Shawn Ratigan lived at the center after a suicide attempt in December. The attempt was made after a computer technician reported finding pornographic images of children while servicing Ratigan's laptop.
The church assigned him to minister to a convent in Independence and ordered him to stay away from children and computers.
Ratigan was not arrested until May.
Documents filed in June with a search warrant request show that the images found on the guest computers included shots of a boy that showed his underwear, the Star said.
"If they'd turned him over to civil authorities in the first place, he would have never had the opportunity to download images onto that computer or to take inappropriate pictures of more children," said Rebecca Randles, a lawyer for the parents of one of the priest's alleged victims.