PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CNN
By Sarah Hoye, CNN
Philadelphia (CNN) — A former altar boy molested in a church sacristy testified Wednesday in the child sexual abuse and conspiracy trial of two Philadelphia priests.
“He told me God loves me, this is what God wants, and it was time for me to become a man,” the witness told jurors.
Just days before the trial began, defrocked priest Edward Avery of the Philadelphia Archdiocese pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child after admitting that he sexually assaulted the 10-year-old altar boy during the 1998-99 school year. Avery, 69, was sentenced to two-and-a-half to five years.
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