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  Former Chaplain Charged with Child Porn

By Matt Kiefer
Hoffman Estates Review
March 23, 2006

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/
current/he/03-23-06-870172.html

A former chaplain at St. Alexius Medical Center was found with child pornography on his home computer shortly before he was transferred from his job at the Hoffman Estates hospital last year, according to details in a federal complaint filed Tuesday.

The Rev. Daniel Schulte, 53, formerly of Chicago, was charged with one count of possession of child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and FBI Special Agent Robert Grant, who jointly filed the charges Tuesday, said in a statement that Schulte "possessed an unspecified number of images of child pornography on his computer on Feb. 28, 2005."

The statement adds, "There are no allegations that he engaged in any sexual misconduct with any children."

U.S. Attorney's spokesman Randall Samborn declined to provide any further details beyond the statement.

Schulte was a paid staff member at St. Alexius from May 2004 to March 2005, according to hospital records. He was assigned to visit patients on rounds through various surgical wings. He did not work at any other Alexian Brothers facilities.

Hospital representatives said Tuesday that no pornographic images were found on hospital computers, and that no complaints were filed about Schulte while he was chaplain at St. Alexius.

Cyndi Alexander, assistant vice president of marketing at St. Alexius, said Schulte worked with a computer at the hospital but that it did not have access to the Internet.

"We have a very sophisticated computer system that is monitored," Alexander said.

As hospital chaplain, Schulte worked only with adult patients and did not have contact with children, according to Matt Wakely, director of public relations for Alexian Brothers Hospital Network.

Federal agents seized a computer from a home where Schulte lived in Lincoln Park last year, according to Denise Mattson, DePaul University's assistant vice president for public relations.

His Lincoln Park house belonged to the Vincentian order of St. Vincent de Paul, which sponsors the university, Mattson said. Schulte did not have any direct involvement with the university, she said.

Schulte is a Vincentian priest belonging to the Midwest Province of the Congregation of the Mission, which has headquarters in Missouri. Provincial leaders could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon by Pioneer Press.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the Rev. Raymond Van Dorpe, assistant provincial of the Vincentian order, issued a statement addressing the federal allegations against Schulte. According to the AP report, Schulte's Internet service provider notified the order last March that his computer may have accessed child pornography, at which point the order contacted the FBI.

Schulte was later transferred to St. Louis "where he could be supervised and where his access to the Internet could be supervised," according to the statement.

On the Vincentian Web site, an undated letter posted by Van Dorpe explains the order's policy on sexual misconduct.

"The province denounces all forms of sexual misconduct by its members and, in particular the sexual abuse of a minor," the letter states. "The province will not tolerate such, under any circumstances."

Representatives of the Chicago Archdiocese could not be reached for comment, nor to confirm whether or not Schulte was under the jurisdiction of the archdiocese during the time he was stationed here.

An arraignment had not been scheduled as of press time. If convicted, Schulte could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison and fined up to $250,000.

 
 

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