A priest who was once a counselor at DeSales University and an adviser to Monaco’s royal family pleaded guilty to one of several federal child pornography charges and will be sentenced in November, court records show.
William McCandless, 57, of Wilmington, Delaware, was charged in 2020 with possessing child pornography for importation into the U.S.; transporting child pornography in interstate and foreign commerce; and attempted access with intent to view child pornography. Authorities said the images included children being tortured.
McCandless pleaded guilty to the attempted access charge, and the others were dropped in a May 27 hearing in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
He faces up to 10 years in prison, supervised release that could last anywhere from five years to the rest of his life and a $250,000 fine, plus “special assessments” totaling $5,100. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 21 before Judge Edward Smith in the Easton federal courthouse.
He faced up to 60 years in prison had he been convicted of all the original charges.
At the time of McCandless’ arrest, federal officials said the priest frequently traveled overseas and was assigned to St. Charles Parish in Monaco from 2010 to 2017.
There, McCandless amassed a collection of thousands of images of child pornography that he brought back to the U.S., where he tried to access similar images and also conducted internet searches for getting “off the grid,” how to “disappear” and how to erase items from “the cloud,” officials charged.
McCandless was assigned to one of the few English-speaking parishes in Monaco and had a close relationship with Princess Charlene, wife of Prince Albert II. He presided over the baptism of their twins in 2014.
On Thursday, McCandless’ attorney, Michael Diamondstein, said the government’s withdrawal of the charges related to pornography in Monaco “should speak volumes.”
McCandless “had steadfastly maintained that he had nothing to do with what was purportedly recovered there,” Diamondstein wrote. “[Rev.] McCandless has accepted responsibility for the inappropriate search terms and links found on his cell phone in Pennsylvania. He is contrite and is hopeful that one day he will earn the community’s forgiveness for his transgressions.”
McCandless, a member of the Catholic order of Oblates of St. Francis DeSales, was a counselor in the Wellness Center at DeSales from Feb. 1, 2017, to Oct. 18, 2017. His employment at the Center Valley university was terminated when the school learned he was under investigation. McCandless graduated from the school in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in education and theology.
In 2010, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support group for clergy abuse victims, asked the oblates to suspend McCandless. In a statement, SNAP said an alleged sex abuse victim testified in a deposition that McCandless had admitted abusing a 14-year-old boy attending a church camp. McCandless was never charged.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security and other federal agencies through Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
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