By Darren Barbeed
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
March 27, 2009
http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1283698.html
EASTLAND — Convicted child molester the Rev. Thomas Teczar was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison for raping an 11-year-old boy while a priest of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese in the 1990s.
The predator priest won a new trial last year after his first conviction was set aside because of what an appellate court decided were inadequate qualifications of an expert witness.
Teczar gambled — and lost — by letting a jury decide his punishment in the new trail. A judge in 2007 sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
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| Thomas Teczar leaves the courtroom during a recess in his 2007 trial in Eastland County. Photo by Ralph Lauer |
On Thursday, Teczar was convicted for a second time of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child while serving as parish priest in Ranger. He was also fined $10,000.
The man who accused Teczar, now in his 30s, said he felt "unbelievably relieved" because of the sentence.
"I know he's not going to be on the streets and that all the children will be safe," he said. "I can go to bed at night knowing he won't be out on the streets."
Teczar, 69, took the stand during the punishment phase of the trail Friday to protest his innocence, denying even knowing the man who accused him. He will be eligible for parole in 25 years.
A notorious predator, Teczar has been sued repeatedly over allegations of sexually abusing children and young men.
In 1996, he was sued for abusing a 16-year-old, David Lewcon. In 2002 he was sued by George Shea for abuse. In 2003, he was sued by another man for abusing him when he was 16-year old.
Separately, the Fort Worth diocese has settled with six of Teczar's accusers, including two in 2005 who received $4.15 million.
One of the men who received part of the $4.15 million settlement is the same man who brought sexual abuse allegations to Texas Rangers, resulting in the Eastland trial.
Throughout all of the allegations, Teczar has maintained his innocence. Asked by the Star-Telegram in 2005 if he had sexually abused any children, he responded, "I'm not at liberty to say."
Teczar served as parish priest in Ranger, about 90 miles west of Fort Worth, and in other parishes in Eastland and Tarrant counties from 1988 until he left the state in 1993, as police investigated child sex-abuse allegations against two other men.
Contact: dbarbee@star-telegram.com
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