Ex-pastor Pohl pleads not guilty on child porn

A former Louisville Roman Catholic pastor accused of violating federal child exploitation laws pleaded not guilty in federal court Tuesday.

Stephen Pohl, 57, is accused of viewing child pornography using computers where he lived and worked at the St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church office and rectory between January and August of this year.

Days after he resigned in August, Pohl was arrested in Florida and charged with the child porn charge via a criminal complaint brought by a Louisville Metro Police detective.

Defense attorney Ted Shouse entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Pohl, who appeared Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court in Louisville with his family at his side.

Magistrate Judge Colin Lindsay accepted the plea and set a trial date for Jan. 12, 2016.

Shouse also asked the court to add Pohl's brother and brother-in-law as third-party custodians, which Lindsay allowed.

Pohl made a first appearance in U.S. District Court in Louisville on Sept. 2, where a judge ordered Pohl held under house arrest at his mother's Jefferson County home.

Prosecutors allege warranted searches of the church office and rectory, 7813 Shelbyville Road, revealed Pohl viewed multiple pornographic online images of nude boys ranging in age from infancy to mid-teens, according to a criminal complaint.

None of those images were of students from St. Margaret Mary, prosecutors have said, though investigators noted they found more than 150 photos Pohl snapped of clothed students, some of which constituted child erotica, according to the complaint. However, no criminal charges have arisen from that allegation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jo E. Lawless is prosecuting the case. Attorneys Annie O'Connell and John H. Harralson also represent Pohl.

The single federal charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and at least five years of supervised release.

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at 502-582-4989 or mglowicki@courier-journal.com.