ERIE (PA)
Trib Live
May 8, 2018
By Megan Guza
A Catholic priest in the Diocese of Erie sexually abused two boys for years and forced one of the children to confess to the sex acts during confession, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Tuesday in announcing charges against the priest.
Father David Poulson, 64, of Oil City, is charged with indecent assault, corruption of minors and child endangerment. Poulson served the diocese for 40 years.
“Poulson assaulted one of his victims repeatedly in church rectories,” Shapiro said in a press release. “He made that victim go to confession and confess the abuse – to Poulson. This was the ultimate betrayal and manipulation by Poulson.”
The victims were 8 years old and 15 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.
Shapiro charged that the diocese knew of Poulson’s predatory tendencies since at least 2010 but did nothing for more than six years.
A grand jury subpoena to the Erie diocese turned up a secret memo dated May 24, 2010, in which a bishop noted complaints about Poulson’s contact with children. The memo stated that Poulson admitted during an interview that his text messages with some boys were “suggestive to sexual advances,” according to the grand jury.
The bishop wrote in the memo that he admonished Poulson and told him to stop.
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