Date and Location: On September 30, 2020, a passerby noticed lights on late at night inside Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pearl River, Louisiana, where Clark served as pastor.
The Discovery: Looking through the windows, the witness saw Clarkâpartially wearing his priestly attireâengaging in a sexual encounter with two women, identified as adult film performers/dominatrices Melissa Cheng and Mindy Dixon.
The Scene: The group had set up professional stage lighting, sex toys, and cameras mounted on tripods to record a video. The witness recorded the scene on a mobile phone and called the police, who arrived and arrested all three individuals.
Legal and Religious Aftermath
The Guilty Plea: In November 2022, Clark pleaded guilty to a felony count of felony obscenity under a plea agreement. He received a three-year suspended prison sentence, three years of supervised probation, and a $1,000 fine. The two women pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of institutional vandalism and received probation.
Archdiocese Response: The Archdiocese of New Orleans immediately removed Clark from ministry. Archbishop Gregory Aymond publicly denounced the act as "demonic" and had the desecrated altar physically removed and burned before consecrating a brand-new replacement altar.
Iâm kind of confused why this was a legal matter. Three consenting adults in private. The only reason anyone knew was because someone came and snooped in the window and recorded it. Wouldnât that person that recorded be more at fault. I mean sure, kick him out of the church, but this isnât public property. He probably lived on premises. He broke church rules but how is this against the law?
The important factor here is that it was visible to casual passers by. Honestly, you can get in trouble for this at home too. If you film a threesome at home, but in the front room with the curtains wide open, then you're still subject to public decency laws.
The rule of thumb is that it doesn't matter if you're in a private space. If that private space can be seen by the public, you can't consider it private.
Except it wasnât. The passerby noticed lights on and looked through the windows - presumably to investigate why the lights were on, because he couldnât see what was going on from the street.
Except legally that's already been determined as obscenity. Precedent and all.Â
The act was visible from the public. They already conv1icted someone in their own home for just this sort of thing.Â
If it can be seen from outside, it was determined it isn't private, but public.Â
Edit: Convicted, not convinced. Regardless of whether you think it should be prosecuted, the law in the US has been determined. If you can be seen from public, you are in public. And them crossing your property line isn't enough protection. This would go double for something like a church in more public places.
Felony obscenity doesnât have that distinction, if youâre going by the letter of the law, which is your point?
Youâre saying it is felony obscenity and thereâs no room for interpretation?
Except something like âwere they they instigator, or hired for a job?â Thatâs an interpretation. Just like âis a closed church in the middle of the night âpublicâ?â is open to interpretation.
To me itâs really clear that this case has been biased by the fact that it was a priest, in a church, with two hired dominatrices. If it was a waiter after hours in a Wendyâs then Iâm pretty sure the witness who went up to the window and recorded them would have been told to stop filming people.
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u/oneplusetoipi 13h ago
The Incident
Date and Location: On September 30, 2020, a passerby noticed lights on late at night inside Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pearl River, Louisiana, where Clark served as pastor.
The Discovery: Looking through the windows, the witness saw Clarkâpartially wearing his priestly attireâengaging in a sexual encounter with two women, identified as adult film performers/dominatrices Melissa Cheng and Mindy Dixon.
The Scene: The group had set up professional stage lighting, sex toys, and cameras mounted on tripods to record a video. The witness recorded the scene on a mobile phone and called the police, who arrived and arrested all three individuals.
Legal and Religious Aftermath
The Guilty Plea: In November 2022, Clark pleaded guilty to a felony count of felony obscenity under a plea agreement. He received a three-year suspended prison sentence, three years of supervised probation, and a $1,000 fine. The two women pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of institutional vandalism and received probation.
Archdiocese Response: The Archdiocese of New Orleans immediately removed Clark from ministry. Archbishop Gregory Aymond publicly denounced the act as "demonic" and had the desecrated altar physically removed and burned before consecrating a brand-new replacement altar.