A former Catholic priest, who was also a former confidant of Monaco’s royal family, was sentenced to 37 months in prison on Monday, January 23, for having a collection of thousands of child pornography pictures.
Reverend William McCandless, 57, first grabbed the attention of US authorities when a stash of illicit videos and pictures was discovered while he was stationed on the French Riviera. At the time of the discovery, the priest was working as an advisor to Princess Charlene, the wife of Monaco’s royal sovereign.
At first, Reverend McCandless claimed that the case against him was fueled by jealousy over his influence at the royal court, but during his sentencing on Monday, he did not repeat that claim.
Standing in the courtroom of a federal Pennsylvania court, McCandless expressed regret for his actions. He acknowledged what he had done and said that words could not express how remorseful he was.
Assistant US Attorney Sherri Stephan told the court that investigators found evidence on the former priest’s computer indicating that he had visited over 3,000 internet pages featuring pornography of underage boys.
Prosecutors said he collected the videos and pictures while working in Monaco and described some items in his collections as the “torture of young children.” Stephan said that McCandless had no empathy for any of the children in the images.
McCandless’s career history included working as a school principal at a Catholic high school in Wilmington and then as a chaplain in the US Navy. He rose to the rank of lieutenant commander before getting dispatched to the prestigious posting in Monaco.
His most recent position was as a consultant at the DeSales University Health Center. The University fired him after learning about the pornography investigation.
US District Judge Edward G. Smith told McCandless that there was evil in him, but that was not why he was getting sentenced or was charged, adding that the criminal case against him was because he could not control the evil in him.
Princess Charlene considered the Reverend one of her closest friends.
Lovingly nicknamed Father Bill in Monaco’s tabloids, he became a fixture in the princess’s media coverage.
His downfall started shortly after, in 2017, when a volunteer at the church accidentally found pornographic images of kids on a parish computer. He was transferred back to the US shortly after word spread that there was an investigation against him.
Investigators in Monaco coordinated with US authorities, who raided his office at DeSales University and found that he had repeatedly visited child pornography sites. Agents also discovered that after the priest discovered an ongoing investigation in Monaco, he had searched the internet on how someone can get rid of stuff from the Cloud, how to go off the grid and how he could disappear.
Last year, McCandless pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to access child pornography, and the prosecution dropped all other charges.
