A former pastor at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church in Emmaus, who also served as vice principal and spiritual director at Marian High School, was charged today with numerous crimes related to the possession of child pornography. He was pastor at St. Bertha's Church in Tuscarora.

Monsignor John Stephen Mraz, 66, formerly of 415 S. Sixth St. in Emmaus and now residing at Holy Family Villa for Priests in Bethlehem, has been charged with sexual abuse of children and criminal use of communication facility, both felonies of the third degree; and obscene and other sexual materials and performances, a misdemeanor of the first degree.

Mraz has been removed as a priest, according to officials with the Allentown Diocese.

It is alleged that during the week of July 25, 2016, Mraz requested a friend and parishioner, D.M., to perform maintenance updates and to upgrade his HP laptop. In doing so, D.M. discovered files in the computer's recycle bin depicting images of nude males.

D.M. returned the laptop to the monsignor, whereupon Mraz asked him to update another laptop. In the process of upgrading the second laptop, D.M. discovered a file with a name suggesting it contained obscene images of underage males. These discoveries made D.M. uncomfortable, and he informed the Diocese of Allentown about what he had found on Mraz's laptops.

The diocese promptly relayed the information to Lehigh County District Attorney James B. Martin. Martin assigned Detective Andrew Millen, a child abuse investigator for the District Attorney, and Detective Paul Iannace, of the Digital Crime Task Force and the Officer David M. Petzold Digital Forensic Laboratory of Lehigh County, located on the campus of DeSales University, to investigate.

As part of that investigation, a search warrant was executed at Mraz's residence in Emmaus. Digital devices were seized and submitted for digital forensic analysis.

As a result of the analysis, it is alleged that the user of the devices actively searched the Internet looking for images and videos of underage males engaged in sex acts. It is alleged that numerous image files of child pornography were on the devices as well.

The investigation determined that the defendant was the user who searched for and downloaded the files of child pornography and did so for his own sexual gratification.

The Diocese of Allentown released a statement Tuesday morning regarding Mraz's arrest. Spokesman Matt Kerr said that the diocese immediately notified law enforcement officials once they were made aware of the content on Mraz's computer. He also said that Mraz has been removed as a priest.

The statement read:

"Criminal charges have been filed today against Monsignor John Mraz, a priest of the Diocese of Allentown.

"Last month, the presence of suspicious content on Monsignor's computer was brought to the attention of the Diocese. The Diocese immediately notified law enforcement officials and cooperated completely with the investigation that resulted in the charges filed today.

"Monsignor Mraz was ordained in 1975. He was a professor at the former Reading Central Catholic High School, Allentown Central Catholic High School and Vice Principal and Director of Spiritual Activities at Marian High School in Tamaqua. He was chaplain at the Newman Center at Lehigh University and Assistant Superintendent in the Diocesan Office of Education. He was pastor of the former St. Bertha Parish in Tuscarora, at Assumption

B.V.M, Northampton and since 2008 at St. Ann Parish in Emmaus."Monsignor Mraz has been removed from public ministry and cannot present himself as a priest."Because this matter is now in the hands of the judicial system, the Diocese will withhold further comment."