Patrick Kujawa
Alleged Abuse: Sent to prison after child pornography was found in the rectory in St. Mary Parish in 2000.
Where he is now: Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, LA
Patrick Kujawa was a priest at Holy Cross in Morgan City when a housekeeper found hundreds of images of child pornography in the rectory in January 2000. Morgan City Police and the FBI began an investigation, and the diocese sent Kujawa to a Pennsylvania hospital for evaluation.
He was booked with 62 counts of possession of child porn, eventually pleaded guilty to 15 counts, and was sentenced to four years on each count, to be served consecutively, for a total of 60 years in prison. However, the judge suspended that sentence and instead placed him on probation.
Just a few years later, in 2004, he was indicted in federal court on more charges of child pornography, after federal investigators found “hardcore child pornography” on his home computer. He again pleaded guilty, but this time he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
When the state moved to revoke his probation and send him to prison for 60 years, he appealed, alleging that the court had illegally suspended the sentence in the first place. He asked for a new sentencing hearing, which the court granted. He was then sentenced to 15 10-year sentences, to be served at the same time, but after any federal sentence was complete. That meant he was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison total.
He appealed that sentence but was unsuccessful.
Timeline:
1995: Ordained
1997: St. Francis de Sales in Houma
1999: Holy Cross Church in Morgan City
