Broderick Witt pleaded guilty in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas to several counts of “distribution of sexually oriented material involving minors.”
A former Catholic seminarian in Ohio pleaded guilty this week to possession of child sexual abuse material and faces several years in prison.
Broderick Witt pleaded guilty in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas to several counts of “distribution of sexually oriented material involving minors.”
The prosecution had originally charged Witt with 15 counts; he eventually pleaded guilty to eight of these counts and the prosecution dropped the remaining seven.
According to court documents, the material involved girls aged at least 6 years.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati announced in February of this year that Witt, then a student at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology in Cincinnati, had been arrested by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department after child pornography was found in his home.
“Mr. Witt is no longer a student at this institution, nor is he a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati,” the seminary’s rector, Father Anthony Brausch, said at the time, adding that the seminary was cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.
Witt’s sentencing is scheduled for September 5. He faces up to 12 years in prison for the charges.
In a statement to CNA, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati referred to Brausch’s February statement, in which he said that both the seminary and the archdiocese “have strict policies against it and take significant precautions to prevent anyone, whether a student, faculty or staff member, from possessing or accessing materials of this nature.”
“Discovery of such material will result in immediate termination or dismissal and notification to law enforcement,” Brausch said.
Local Cincinnati news station WCPO reported in March that Witt completed an “internship” in several local communities before his arrest, working with children, among other things.
Investigators first became aware of Witt through a tip from the group “Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force,” reported the Cincinnati Inquirer.
