Gloucester man facing child porn trial kills himself in jail

12-18-2007 Virginia:

GLOUCESTER - A Gloucester man facing state and federal charges of child pornography and child molestation killed himself in jail this weekend, days before his case was scheduled to go to trial in Gloucester County Circuit Court, according to Gloucester Commonwealth's Attorney Robert D. Hicks.

John P. Monahan, 43, was to go to trial today on nine counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, one count of forcible sodomy of a child and one count of sexual penetration of a child. Monahan, who worked at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, is accused of molesting three different children between 2005 and August of this year.

Monahan was first arrested in August after investigators found images of child pornography on his computer.

A Gloucester grand jury indicted Monahan on molestation charges Sept. 4, after an investigation conducted by the Gloucester Sheriff's Department and the FBI. On Oct. 11, a federal grand jury indicted Monahan on charges of producing and receiving child pornography.

If convicted of the federal charges, Monahan had faced a mandatory life sentence.

Monahan, of Hayes, was being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail when he committed suicide, according to Mr. Hicks. He said the commonwealth's attorney's office dropped its charges against Monahan on Monday. ..more.. by NICOLAS ZIMMERMAN