Idaho Catholic priest sentenced to 25 years for child porn

A Roman Catholic priest in Boise who possessed more than 2,500 images of what investigators called the most disturbing child pornography they had ever seen has been sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole.

The Rev. W. Thomas Faucher, 73, pleaded guilty to five felonies earlier this year. During his sentencing hearing in Idaho’s 4th District Court on Thursday, Judge Jason Scott said Faucher fantasized about raping and killing young children, favored child pornography that depicted extreme violence and claimed in online chats to have mixed his own bodily fluids into the communion wine at his church.

During the hearing Faucher told the judge he should be released on probation, claiming he could use his freedom to visit with victims of child pornography and then speak on their behalf about the evils of child abuse.

Diocese officials say they will seek to have Faucher defrocked for his crimes.