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- Priest arrested after one-month long probe into uploading of child porn
- Says he was “getting revenge on God” for attacking him following poker tournament losses
- Kevin Gugliotta, 55, initially charged with 40 counts of child porn
A former priest in Honesdale, Pennsylvania reportedly lost a lot of money playing poker. Kevin Gugliotta, a 55-year-old resident of Mahwah, New Jersey, was arrested in September 2016 after a month-long investigation into, of all things, uploading child porn.
And what was his defense?
From the Miami Herald:
Gugliotta, who told probation officers he is a poker player, felt that God was attacking him when he lost games and tournaments. By downloading the pornography, Gugliotta told officers, he felt he was getting revenge on God.
“That was his reason. He's not happy that's how he felt, as the judge indicated. There are other ways to handle issues and handle anger,” Gugliotta’s attorney, Jim Swetz, said, per WNEP.
"No matter what he says why he did it, he still admits he did it and that's the important thing as a prosecutor," prosecutor Janine Edwards told WBRE.
"That was a surprising thing in the court, for sure,” a fellow priest and friend told WNEP. “People do things under stress they wouldn't normally do.”
Gugliotta was ultimately charged with 20 counts of child porn and 20 counts of disseminating images of children involved in sexual acts. He pleaded guilty to one count of dissemination in return for the 39 other counts being dismissed.
He was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 1/2 months in jail on Thursday, with credit for 10 months in prison already served as he awaited trial.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
