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Priest With Ties to Schuylkill County Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

A priest who once served in Schuylkill County has pleaded guilty to felony child pornography charges.

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By
RACHEL HOLLY
EMMAUS, PA — A priest who once served in Schuylkill County has pleaded guilty to felony child pornography charges.

Monsignor John Mraz was most recently pastor of St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church in Emmaus, Lehigh County. According to investigators, Mraz asked a parishioner to perform maintenance and update his laptop during July of 2016, when they came across the images of nude underage boys.

That parishioner then proceeded to contact the Diocese of Allentown about what she found.

Monsignor Mraz -- who was ordained in 1975 -- served at multiple parishes and schools across the region such as Reading Central Catholic High School, Allentown Central Catholic High School, and was at one time previously Vice Principal and Director of Spiritual Activities at Marian Catholic High School near Tamaqua. He also previously served as a pastor at the former St. Bertha Parish in Tuscarora.

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