Priest Charged For Porn Possession
Rev. Michael Volino has served at three local churches, most recently
in Greece at St. John the Evangelist. He has also served at St.
Lawrence Church in Greece and St. Theodore Church in Gates.
Now Volino faces jail time for allegedly having hundreds of child pornography images on his computer.
Court papers state that Volino called the Rochester Diocese for help with his computer in January.
When the technician was working on it, he noticed what he thought was child porn. Authorites were called in.
“To hear something like this makes you question at times who do we turn
to," John Lacek, eucharistic minister at St. John the Evangelist, said.
“I have a tendency to look at my priest, all the priests I've been
associated with, as having a higher standard to live by because of the
vows they took."
The criminal complaint also states Volino had been getting counseling
for sexual issues the past 3 years. Volino's attorney would not comment
about that.
"When you're reading something that the FBI agent put together it's
simply their spin on a very vague conversation," John Parrinello,
Volino’s attorney, said.
Volino will not be a part of church services at St. John's.
He'll be on administrative leave, and house arrest wearing a monitoring device.
He's also not allowed to use his computer, or have contact with anyone
under the age of 18. Volino is due in court March 14. 
What
authorities say a computer technician at the Rochester Catholic Diocese
saw on a priest's computer, started an investigation that ended up in
federal court.
by Stephanie Dusek
photo by Jeff Hamson
Published Mar 10, 2005
Community Watch comments:
Sure, he is a priest and works with families and children - and just so happens to enjoy child pornography - but do we really have to add him to the sex offender registry? Can you believe they are trying to keep him off the sex offender registry? He should go to jail and serve time.
After he serves time, this "priest" should be added to the sex offender registry, evaluated, possibly classified as a predator, and used as an example by the Catholic Church on what they will not tolerate. But, as we well know, the Catholic Church will quietly transfer him to another unsuspecting and close-knit community (his fourth community to "serve"), and the cycle will begin all over again.
