Priest, Teacher Convicted in Pa. Church Abuse Case

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
ABC News

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA January 30, 2013 (AP)

A jury on Wednesday convicted a priest and teacher in a pivotal church-abuse case that rocked the Philadelphia archdiocese and sent a church official to prison for child endangerment.

The verdict upholds the stunning account by a 24-year-old policeman’s son that he was sexually abused as a boy by two priests and his sixth-grade teacher. One priest pleaded guilty before trial while the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and former teacher Bernard Shero were convicted at trial. …

“I’m overjoyed that there was a conviction, mostly because of this victim. I really didn’t expect it,” said Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, an active Catholic who revived efforts to prosecute the archdiocese after taking office three years ago.

The accuser, now a gaunt young man, has battled heroin abuse since his teens and still has a drug case pending. And details of his story changed frequently over the years, even about whether Shero raped him in the classroom or in a parked car.

“The victim was demonized, cross-examined, … dehumanized. I would understand how a jury could come to a different verdict,” Williams said.

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