GEORGIA
Statesboro Herald
From staff and wire reports
A Catholic priest in Ohio who once worked in Glennville, Claxton, and Pembroke will stand trial Monday on charges he sexually assaulted a 10-year-old Cincinnati boy he took to West Virginia in August 1991.
The Rev. Robert Poandl, who worked in seven Georgia towns as part of Glenmary Missions out of Fairfield, Ohio, faces federal child sex charges following a Nov. 14 indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, according to the FBI Cincinnati division website, www.fbi.gov/cincinnati.
FBI agents arrested Poandl, also known as “Father Bob,” at the Glenmary Missions campus, where he lives, the day after his indictment was returned.
The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
According to www.bishop-accountability.org, Poandl pleaded not guilty to the charges Nov. 20 and was released on his own recognizance, placed on house arrest with a GPS monitoring device.
After his arrest, Glenmary Missioners released a statement on their website claiming the charges were related to a June 2009 accusation of sexual misconduct with a minor in 1991 in Spencer, W.Va.
The statement said those charges against Poandl were dismissed by a West Virginia court in August 2010 and his record was expunged.
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