Robert McWilliams, a Catholic priest from northern Ohio, has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing boys, possessing child pornography, and extorting his victims.
The worst part? He’s still an ordained priest.
“Father Bobby was evil disguised as a priest,” one of the victims’ mothers told the court before sentencing.
“This defendant violated and exploited children in nearly every manner imaginable,” acting U.S. Attorney Bridget M. Brennan said. “Using his role in the Church, Mr. McWilliams violated the sacrament of confession to identify potential victims, and offered religious counseling to victims he extorted under alter egos he intentionally created to conceal his own identity. He also used social media to target and entice young children into the exploitive world of juvenile sex trafficking, all after having already amassed a large collection of violent child pornography.”
McWilliams was convicted of posing a young girl to entice underage boys to send him naked photos of themselves. He would use the information he gleaned from hearing confessions to target his victims and would threaten to send the photos to their parents if they didn’t send more – and in some cases did send the photos.
Many of the boys would confess to the priest, not knowing he was their abuser.
“Mr. McWilliams used his position and reputation as a priest to meet and earn the trust of these children, only to betray that trust in the worst way possible for his own twisted gratification,” Special Agent in Charge Vance Callender added.
The twisted clergyman had over 128,000 child porn photos in his collection when he was arrested.
McWilliams also used Grindr to solicit sex from an underage minor. The youth and a friend repeatedly had sex with the priest for money.
