PENNSYLVANIA
Erie News Now
May 8th 2018
In announcing sexual abuse charges against retired Diocese of Erie priest, David Poulson, 64, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the grand jury heard from nine other men who had contact with father Poulson when they were minors.
Erie News Now talked with one of those nine, James VanSickle, 54, of Pittsburgh who voluntarily came forward to testify before a state grand jury in March. “And when I heard the new accusation, I was in a little bit of turmoil deciding what to do, but I didn’t want this kid to be the only voice,” VanSickle said.
He told the grand jury that Father Paulson groomed him, then abused him beginning in 1979 when the priest was his English teacher and chess team coach at Bradford Central Christian High School.
VanSickle said chess team dinners, progressed to private dinners where alcohol was introduced, and that led to wrestling in the rectory, and in a hotel room on a trip. “He changed into his pajamas and wanted to wrestle…obviously became aroused, which I was very aware of, he began to wrestle, and obviously it was a task to get him off of me, so it did end in a physical confrontation,” VanSickle said.
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