Federal agents arrested the Rev. Bruce Fehr of St Francis of the Islands Episcoipal Church and have charged him with downloading child pornography

A Diocese of Georgia rector has been arrested and is currently being held in the Effingham County Jail on child pornography charges. Acting upon a search warrant, on 23 April 2015 the Southeast Georgia Child Exploitation Task Force raided the home of the Rev. Bruce Fehr (54), rector of St Francis of the Islands Episcopal Church on Wilmington Island near Savannah. Agents from the FBI, Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Sheriff’s Deputies seized Fehr’s computer and charged him with possession of child pornography. The Diocese of Georgia released a statement following the arrest, noting it was “shocked and saddened to learn on April 23 that Federal agents arrested the Rev. Bruce Fehr on charges of downloading child pornography. The Diocese takes these allegations very seriously and is cooperating fully in every way possible with the investigation. Bishop Scott Benhase, on learning of the allegations, immediately relieved the Rev. Bruce Fehr of his duties. The Bishop and staff are providing pastoral care to the Fehr Family and to the congregation of St. Francis of the Islands, Savannah, where he served as Rector. Canon Frank Logue will preside and preach at St. Francis this Sunday and will meet both with the congregation and the vestry following the liturgies. The prayers of the diocesan community are requested.” Fehr and his wife, the Rev. Lori Fehr — the assistant rector at St Francis — are 2013 graduates of the School of Theology of the University of the South and were ordained to the priesthood in October 2013. Fehr and his wife are former attorneys, he practiced in the field of insurance litigation and she most recently served as an attorney for the Florida Department of Children and Families.