Police in Messina have arrested a judge on child pornography charges, sources at the public prosecutor's office in the Sicilian port city said on Tuesday.
Local daily Il Giornale della Sicilia's website named the judge as Gaetano Maria Amato. If convicted, he faces a prison term of 6-12 years, the paper said.
The judge is in custody and risks being suspended from his post and having his salary payments suspended.
The charges against Amato concern his private not his professional life, according to the sources at the public prosecutor's office in Messina.
Details of the case are being withheld to protect the alleged victims, the sources said.
Amato in 2009 received a warning from Italy's Supreme Magistrates' Council for failing to file series of his sentences on time, Il Giornale della Sicilia reported.
