Spotlight on abuse: Episcopal priest Robert K. Orr

the Rev. Robert K. Orr of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania was convicted in March 1999 of child pornography possession and distribution using his office computer at All Hallows Episcopal Church in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. Orr claimed that he had received photographs of children engaged in sex acts, but that he did not know how to delete them. A police investigation revealed that Orr’s password on the church office computer was “xesyob,” or “boysex” spelled backwards. Two members of Orr’s parish complained in 1998 that he had been observed downloading pornography in the parish office, and he was inhibited by Bishop Allen Bartlett. Orr had not faced church disciplinary action for an earlier incident in which he was arrested for chasing a man in a Philadelphia parking garage while carrying a loaded gun. He also served parishes in the Episcopal Dioceses of Bethlehem, Indianapolis, and Michigan. He was sentenced to 11 months in prison and a $10,000 fine but allowed to remain living in the rectory on appeal.