Menlo Park priest charged in Internet sex case Menlo Park priest charged in Internet sex case (March 08, 2000)

The Rev. Carl Anthony Schipper, academic dean at St. Patrick Seminary, Menlo Park, for the past eight years, has been arrested on charges apparently related to child pornography and sexual abuse. Rev. Schipper was arrested March 2 by San Jose police on a $50,000 warrant for five counts of sending harmful matter to minors over the Internet.

The Child Exploitation Detail of the San Jose police department has been investigating Rev. Schipper since September. For six months, a lead undercover officer, posing as a 13-year-old boy, under three different personas, engaged in more than 20 "explicit" sexual discussions with Rev. Schipper, said Deputy District Attorney James Sibley.

Rev. Schipper is well-known locally. After being ordained in 1968, he served as associate pastor of St. Raymond's Church in Menlo Park from 1968 to 1970. He became a member of the faculty at Junipero Serra High School in 1970, serving as principal from 1975 to 1978.

The Rev. Schipper was arrested at his home in Santa Rosa and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail in San Jose. He has since been released on bail. He will be arraigned March 16, and faces a maximum of three years in state prison if convicted.

Rev. Schipper's arrest came as a surprise to the Archdiocese of San Francisco, according to spokesman Maurice Healy. Church officials first learned about Rev. Schipper's arrest when officers showed up at St. Patrick's Seminary with a warrant to search his office and personal quarters. Police have seized his computers at the seminary and his Santa Rosa home.

Rev. Schipper has been relieved on his duties as academic dean at St. Patrick Seminary and placed on administrative leave.

Anyone having information related to the case is asked to contact Sgt. David Hewitt of the Sexual Assaults Unit, 408-277-4102. Persons wishing to remain anonymous should contact the CrimeStoppers Program, 408-947-STOP.