Preacher Gets 12 Years For Distributing Child Porn

Indiana: A former Baptist pastor and volunteer police chaplain has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for distributing child pornography.

Bernard Squires, 65, of rural Columbia City, Ind., pleaded guilty March 2 to distribution of materials depicting the sexual exploitation of minors. At the time of his arrest, Squires was pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Columbia City.

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Squires was indicted last July as part of an FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force to combat peer-to-peer file sharing of child pornography in the Fort Wayne, Ind., area. Prosecutors said his home computer contained at least 10,000 pornographic images and 5,000 videos, some of children younger than 12. He allegedly shared at least 600 images with others on multiple occasions.