PUERTO RICO
Tribune 242
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – A former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced on Thursday to 11 years in prison for taking a teenage boy on a cruise ship vacation to the Bahamas with the intent to engage in illegal sexual conduct.
#The United States Attorney’s Office on the Caribbean island announced the sentencing of expelled priest Israel Berrios, who had pleaded guilty in August, 2014.
#Prosecutors accused Berrios of giving the 15-year-old boy money, a computer and a camera and taking him on a four-day cruise to the Bahamas with his mother’s permission in July, 2008. The victim, now a young adult, was apparently an altar boy at the time.
#Berrios previously served as director of a Catholic school in the mountain town of Aibonito and as a priest in the diocese of Caguas, south of the US island’s capital. He is in his late 50s.
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.