Priest Engelhardt Dies After Appealing Sex Abuse Conviction

By Muhammad Ahsan
Beta Wired
November 18, 2014

http://www.betawired.com/priest-engelhardt-dies-after-appealing-sex-abuse-conviction/1416107/

A Roman Catholic priest died while he was in police custody. The priest went for appeal against conviction for child sexual abuse.

The 67 years old Rev. Charles Engelhardt remained in prison since the day he got convicted last year. According to a religious order the priest was serving a 6 to 12 years jail-term and dies over the past weekend in a hospital. He maintained his innocence and said that he didn’t remember the one who accused him, a policeman’s child who said he was molested by a couple of priests and Catholic school teacher.

Engelhardt said that he accepted the injustice and would continue to do so until authorities make it right. He claimed that he didn’t have any so of interaction with the accuser.

Since the accusation surfaced in 2009, Engelhardt lost 50 pounds. The religious order said that later on he was treated for heart issues and he underwent through an angioplasty earlier this month. The Rev. James Greenfield, provincial of the Delaware-based Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, says that Engelhardt returned to prison after being treated at the hospital but the last week his symptoms returned again and he was taken to the hospital.

James Greenfield went to see Engelhardt at the hospital on Friday and he found him optimistic about the appeal. He said that the priest was awaiting his day of vindication. Monsignor William Lynn also was brought down from the post of secretary for clergy at Philadelphia archdiocese. He was convicted of felony endangerment for the way he dealt with hundreds of abuse complaints.

The novel conviction of Lynn was reversed later on by the Superior Court of the state. The decision is yet to be reviewed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Engelhardt died just weeks after the Supreme Court heard his appeal.