Pastor Gets 5 Years For Explicit Images From A Westchester 15-Year-Old

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — A former pastor will go to federal prison for receiving graphic images of a Westchester teenager during the course of a disturbing, sexually explicit text exchange that started on a dating app.

On Tuesday, Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Francis Hughes, a former pastor in Queens, was sentenced to five years in prison for his receipt of images of child pornography from a 15-year-old minor in Westchester, with whom Hughes was engaging in sexually explicit text communications. Hughes pled guilty on August 16, 2022.

Warning: Readers may find the following graphic content from public court records to be disturbing.

According to court documents, on February 16, 2020, Hughes exchanged text messages with a 15-year-old boy from Westchester, who he met on the Grindr app. During the course of the text communications, among other things, the minor sent Hughes three images of the minor's penis. Upon receiving one of the images, Hughes responded, among other things, "Yummmmm I will suck you so much" and "Make you cum." During the text communications, Hughes told the minor that he was a part-time college professor and a counselor.

After the FBI executed a search warrant on the minor's Westchester residence and found the minor's cell phone and text messages, Hughes was arrested on July 29, 2020 and appeared in White Plains federal court.

"The allegations against Francis Hughes are chilling and frightening to any parent," Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in 2020. "A person who, by the nature of his profession, is presumed to be trustworthy allegedly victimized a child."

In addition to the prison sentence, Hughes, 68, of Glendale, was sentenced to 10 years of supervised release.

Williams praised the efforts of the FBI and the Greenburgh Police Department in connection with this investigation.

"We expect adults, especially those in positions of trust like Francis Hughes, to protect our children, not victimize them," FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney said in 2020. "Sadly, these allegations demonstrate there are still predators out there who abuse this trust."