ST. LOUIS — On Tuesday, a United States District Judge sentenced a retired St. Louis priest who created PowerPoint presentations containing child porn to five years in prison and ordered him to pay thousands in restitution.
Judge Matthew T. Schelp ordered former Rev. James T. Beighlie, 72, to pay $4,750 in restitution to one of the victims seen in the presentation and $22,000 in special assessments that will go towards other victims of crimes involving children.
According to a press release from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Beighlie pleaded guilty in October of 2022 to two counts of possession of child porn. He was charged by federal law enforcement on Nov. 29, 2021.
According to a press release from the Congregation of the Mission: The Vincentians Western Province, the charges stem from an internal investigation initiated by their province, during which Beighlie was removed from his position as associate pastor at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in St. Louis and placed in a monitored environment.
The province said it is committed to a safe environment and maintains ongoing accreditation from Praesidium, which is an organization that establishes protocols and best practices to safeguard children from abuse in programs and organizations.
On May 17, 2021, while he was working at the Congregation of the Mission in St. Louis, colleagues found compromising images of Beighlie on a church printer, according to the release. The church then launched an internal investigation.
When a private IT support company found what appeared to be videos of minors engaging in sex acts, an attorney for the church contacted the FBI.
Beighlie possessed 6,000 images containing child sexual abuse material on one computer, including about 3,000 images containing child porn and 2,992 images of child erotica.
Beighlie created two PowerPoint presentations with graphic titles that linked to thousands of the images, and often visited and edited the presentations over a period of years, according to the release. Another computer had 236 images and 40 videos containing child sexual abuse material.
Rev. Patrick McDevitt, C.M., provincial superior for the Congregation of the Mission Western Province, said:
“While the circumstances surrounding this sentencing are very saddening for us, we respect the judge’s decision and have cooperated with law enforcement throughout the process. Exploitation of children through pornography is a grave sin and has no place in society.”
When the charges were filed, the congregation encouraged members of the community, in particular those in which Fr. Beighlie served, to come forward with any additional information, according to the release.
McDevitt said a primary goal of the province has been and always will be to safeguard children, minors, and vulnerable adults.
One of the victims said in a letter to Judge Schelp:
“It’s depressing and sickening to know that people were looking at images and videos of my online sexual abuse when I was a little girl and that they were getting pleasure from it – my abuse.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang said in court that Beighlie had been looking at child sexual abuse material since at least 2008 and edited his presentations more than 200 times.
“This criminal conduct was part of his daily life,” Lang said.
After his release from prison, Beighlie will be on supervised release for life.
To report a crime to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, visit their CyberTipline online.
