ONTARIO EX-PRIEST GETS FOUR YEARS IN PRISON FOR HISTORICAL SEX CRIMES

By Neil Bowen
Sun News
May 14, 2014

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/05/20140514-135743.html

SARNIA, Ont. - His victims painted a picture of a priest who used his "rock star" status in the church to coerce them into sexual relationships as teens. Now Gabriele DelBianco, who served in churches in southwestern Ontario, will spend four years in prison for his crimes.

The sentence was handed down Wednesday in a Sarnia, Ont., courtroom.

In February, court found DelBianco, 57, guilty of one count of gross indecency against one victim and sexually assaulting another woman twice.

The crimes dated back to the 1980s.

One woman, now in her 40s, had testified DelBianco was a trusted family friend she and other kids looked up to. She told court that the priest surprised her with a kiss when she was 14 year old, and that eventually progressed to sex years later. At one point she travelled for overnight visits at churches where he was the priest. Oral sex was part of the established routine when she was staying in his room, she told court.

DelBianco left the priesthood in 1996 after serving at churches in Wallaceburg and Windsor.