Former Havertown Priest Arrested by FBI on Child Porn Charges

By Kara Seymour

A Catholic priest who previously served at Annunciation B.V.M. in Havertown is facing federal child pornography charges.

Mark Haynes, 55, who already faces multiple felonies involving child pornography after being charged by Chester County authorities in October, was arrested this week by the FBI.

Haynes is accused of posting nude photos of children to Instagram as well as exchanging lewd emails with a 14-year-old girl, according to authorities.

Since his ordination in 1985, Haynes has served at multiple parishes in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, including:

• St. Ann, Phoenixville
• Saints Simon and Jude Parish, West Chester
• Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Doylestown
• St. John of the Cross, Roslyn
• Our Lady of Good Counsel, Southampton
• St. Pius X, Broomall
• Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Morton
• Annunciation B.V.M., Havertown

The charges were filed by county officials last fall after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children contacted a Chester County detective about an Instagram account that was sharing child pornography.

The account had shared two photos of a female under the age of 14, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office said. One was of the child posing nude and the other was a close-up image of the child’s genitals, according to authorities.

An e-mail address associated with the Instagram account was traced to Saints Simon and Jude Parish in West Chester, where Haynes was serving at the time. The rector identified the e-mail address as Haynes’, authorities said.

Officials said Haynes had received and posted a multitude of other images of child pornography and had been exchanging lewd emails with a 14-year-old girl while posing as a 16-year-old girl.

In October, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said that Haynes had been placed on administrative leave.

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