Los Banos ex-priest wants to avoid registering as a sex offender. Here's the ruling

A former Los Banos priest who has twice been convicted of possessing child pornography lost his appeal this week and will be required to list as a sex offender, according to U.S. Fifth District Court records.

Robert Gamel, 67, was sentenced in February to serve four years in state prison for being found in possession of an image of a nude 15-year-old boy who was also a parishioner of Los Banos Catholic Church. The Fresno court denied his appeal on Tuesday.

The sex offender registry set up under "Megan's Law" allows certain people convicted of sex crimes to have their names removed from the list if the victim was 16 or older.

Through his attorneys, Gamel appealed the requirement to be listed as a sex offender, arguing that the boy was 17 when the ex-priest was first arrested, according to the court filing.

Investigators said Gamel, also called "Father Bob," admitted knowing the boy was 15 in the images, according to records.

Allegations that Gamel was in possession of a nude image of a teenage parishioner first surfaced in August 2014, after the victim’s family alerted the Catholic Diocese of Fresno, according to investigators.

Church officials notified police and Gamel was placed on administrative leave from the church before he was formally removed as a priest in December 2014.

Gamel was the lead priest of St. Joseph Church in Los Banos from 2009 to 2014. He pleaded no contest in March 2016 to possessing child pornography and was sentenced to 11 months in jail. The sentence was converted to an alternative program, allowing him to serve it without going to jail.

But during a probation search on April 12 in his Merced home, authorities arrested him after they found the same photographs from his first conviction printed on recycled church-related papers, according to probation reports.

This story was originally published March 29, 2018 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Los Banos ex-priest wants to avoid registering as a sex offender. Here's the ruling."