A 96-year-old retired Catholic priest kept a large collection of kiddie porn on his computer — with pictures of girls as young as eight years old — and shared it with others at the retirement home for priests where he lived, according to prosecutors.
Monsignor Harry Byrne was charged Tuesday with more than 70 counts of possession of child pornography after cops uncovered the stockpile during an online investigation.
Members of the NYPD Computer Crimes Squad found dozens of photographs on his computer — showing girls between the ages of eight and 14 “performing sex acts with men or posing naked,” the Bronx District Attorney’s office said.
Byrne allegedly viewed the images out in the open with his brothers in faith at the St. John Vianney Center for Retired Priests in Riverdale.
“People at the defendant’s residence were subjected to it when they entered his room,” said Bronx DA Darcel Clark.
Byrne, who is currently confined to a wheelchair, served as the chancellor of the Archdiocese of New York from 1968 to 1970. His role included overseeing central administrative offices and official documents.
The former senior official was arraigned Tuesday and released on bail. He’s due back in court on January 17.
His lawyer, Marvin Ray Raskin, released a statement saying the priest was being cared for at a medical facility — and likely made the mistake of looking at the pictures because of his old age.
“Monsignor Byrne has dedicated 72 years to charity and the church with an unsullied history,” Raskin said. “It is difficult to imagine that at the age of 96 plus, he knowingly understood and is responsible for the content of the subject on a computer accessible to numerous people.”