Former Spokesperson for Anti-Gay Lutheran Group Sentenced on Child Porn Charges

Time and time again the hypocrisy of the homophobes - especially those in anti-gay religious organizations - is mind boggling.  The latest example of this truth is Joel W. Hochmuth (pictured at left) , a former spokesman for the anti-gay Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (not to be confused with the gay accepting Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a/k/a the ELCA).  It seems that the homophobic Hochmuth had a penchant for child pornography involving young boys.  One can only assume that Hochmuth projected his own perversity and perhaps self-loathing onto normal gays who live their lives as God made us.  I may seem cold hearted, but I find it very difficult to have much sympathy for Hochmuth who used his synod position to denigrate and malign others who were far more virtuous than himself and worthy of of civil equality.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has details on Hochmuth's criminal sentencing.  Here are highlights:

A former Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod official was placed on probation for 10 years Monday and ordered to serve one year in jail with work-release privileges as a condition of probation for possession of child pornography.

Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Kathryn W. Foster withheld imposing a prison term on Joel W. Hochmuth, 52, of Waukesha, who had faced up to 15 years behind bars followed by 10 years of extended supervision for the crime.

But she warned Hochmuth that if there was any hint of him "going back to any kind of behavior like this," his probation would be revoked and the full "25-year prison sentence will be staring you in the face."  Hochmuth used the Internet to download hundreds of images of boys engaged in sexual acts with other youths and men.

"I appear before you today guilty of an abhorrent and violent crime. I have offended my god, betrayed my wife, shamed our son and dishonored my church. To all of them I apologize. I also apologize to the victims portrayed in the images I viewed and downloaded. That I could have been so drawn to what I was looking at today disgusts me," Hochmuth told Foster.  He said he is in a treatment plan that he began after his arrest.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators found several hundred images on his home computer and 310 photographs and 38 videos on a thumb drive at his WELS office in Wauwatosa. Hochmuth denied downloading any explicit material while at work, or creating his own pornography, the complaint states.

He was investigated by the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force after an undercover agent identified a residence in Waukesha that was distributing child pornography, according to the complaint. Hochmuth was using a software program that allows individuals to connect to one another's computers and browse and download files as well as chat online, according to the complaint.

The complaint also states that the agent engaged Hochmuth in chats and that in one Hochmuth told the agent that he liked pictures of males who were 10 years old or older, the complaint states.

Yes, Hochmuth is a sick individual.  But his synod is equally sick given the anti-gay hate and bigotry that it disseminates.  Not surprisingly, WELS has in the past supported the "ex-gay" myth and reparative therapy.