The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Rev. W. Thomas Faucher, 73, who served as parish priest at St. Edward the Martyr Catholic Church in Sisters for six years ending in 2002 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole in connection with charges that he amassed thousands of images of child pornography on his computer and shared some of those images with others.

Many of those images were described by investigators as "extremely disturbing."

Faucher, who had retired from the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, was sentenced December 20 in Ada County, Idaho.

Katy Moeller of the Idaho Statesman reported December 20 and 21 that "the files were described by police as violent, disturbing and torturous, some involving children crying."

A detective testified at the sentencing hearing that, "The volume of [images] was something I haven't come across." Moeller reported that the detective spoke "about how the extreme nature of the images affected him and others that investigated."

Details on the nature of Faucher's crimes may be accessed through the Idaho Statesman's reporting. A link to the Statesman will be provided with the online version of this story.

Faucher made a 17-minute statement during sentencing, in which he stated that, "I was one really sick puppy. I screwed up big time ... I feel so much remorse and anger." Statesman reporter Ruth Brown tweeted during the statement that, "He wants to build a future making up for what he's done. He would like to meet with victims and apologize to them and give lectures on the evils of child pornography."

According to the Statesman, special prosecutor Kassandra Slaven testified that an "evaluation concluded Faucher is on the upper end of the risk to reoffend and is less amenable to treatment... adding that he was diagnosed as a pedophile. She argued that his status as a Catholic priest is an aggravating factor."

Given that Faucher is 73 years old and, according to his defense team, in ill health suffering from brain damage and alcohol-induced dementia, it is clear that the former priest will die in prison.