PHILADELHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog
Ralph Cipriano
The sex abuse case against Father Charles Engelhardt and former Catholic lay teacher Bernard Shero is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday with jury selection on the third floor of the Criminal Justice Center.
Shero and Engelhardt were originally charged along with three other defendants who went on trial last year — Msgr. William J. Lynn, Father James J. Brennan and Father Edward V. Avery. Avery pleaded guilty on the eve of trial, March 22, 2011, to involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a minor and was sentenced to 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison.
Lynn was convicted on June 22 of endangering the welfare of a child for failing to protect a 10-year-old altar boy from Avery; he was sentenced to three to six years in prison.
Shero and Engelhardt are both charged with abusing the same former 10-year-old altar boy who was the victim in the previous trial. The case against Shero and Engelhardt was postponed since last September.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.