Gregory Lisby, a former pastor at Christ Church in Ridgewood from 2010 to 2015, was charged by federal officials in Boston last week with possession of child pornography.

Bishop Carlye Hughes of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark announced Lisby's arrest Friday on the diocese website.

"At this time, there is no indication of this behavior during the Rev. Lisby's tenure in this diocese," Hughes said in a statement. "Still, we will monitor this investigation carefully and are ready to launch a diocesan investigation if deemed necessary."

Lisby, 40, began working as a kindergarten teacher at Holyoke Public Schools in Massachusetts this year, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston. He resigned from his teaching position hours later in a letter that stated: "I was accused of an awful crime that could put our Holyoke children in harm's way," the complaint said.

Lisby's attorney, Timothy Watkins, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Lisby was suspended last year from his position as rector at All Saints Church in Worcester for "an inappropriate relationship with an adult that did not involve sexual contact," Bishop Douglas Fisher of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts said in a letter posted on the diocese's website Friday.

A secretary who answered the phone Monday at Christ Church gasped when told about the pornography charges. "He worked here for several years. His name is all over our church documents," she said. She declined to talk more about Lisby, but a church Facebook page had numerous photos and posts about him that were overwhelmingly positive.

FOR SUBSCRIBERS: After their church was rocked by a sex scandal, St. Andrew's parishoners say the archdiocese is ignoring their pain

SEX ABUSE:50 NJ church abuse victims file compensation claims

PRIEST ABUSE SCANDAL:Former North Jersey man filing lawsuit alleging Theodore McCarrick abused him

In a farewell letter to the parish in May 2015, Lisby wrote, "Thank you all for inviting me into your lives as your pastor and priest. You have richly blessed my family and me. Thank you for all the laughter, the joy, the warmth and hugs."

The current church rector, Father Thomas Mathews, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

While Lisby was in Ridgewood, his husband served at All Saints' Church in Glen Rock, the Newark diocese said in its statement. The two transferred together to the Western Massachusetts diocese in September 2015. The husband was not named in last week's complaint.

Microsoft Corp. alerted the FBI in December 2018 to child pornography on an account that was believed to be connected to Lisby, the complaint says.

On Sept. 11, agents raided the apartment Lisby shares with his husband. According to the criminal complaint, over 180 pornographic images and 15 videos were found in a digital account that belongs to Lisby. The photos allegedly showed boys who were as young as 8 in various sexual positions.

The agents also found a letter to a potential employer about his career aspirations. "I would love to be a kindergarten teacher," it said, according to the complaint. "The joy, spontaneity, and openness to learning of younger children is what attracts me."

If convicted, Lisby could face up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement on Friday.