BROOKVILLE (PA)
The Associated Press
October 17, 2018
One of two Roman Catholic priests charged as a result of the damning Pennsylvania grand jury investigation admitted he sexually abused children, pleading guilty Wednesday to corruption of minors and child endangerment.
The Rev. David Lee Poulson , 65, of Oil City, was arrested earlier this year during a grand jury probe that concluded hundreds of clergy in the state had sexually abused at least 1,000 children over seven decades.
Prosecutors say Poulson abused an altar boy in church rectories and had him confess afterward. They say he also abused the boy and attempted to assault another boy at a hunting camp.
“Today’s guilty plea by a predator priest in Jefferson County is a clear statement that no matter who abuses a child, no one is above the law,” said state Attorney General Josh Shapiro at a news conference after the hearing in the Brookville courthouse, which is about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Poulson took the victims to his primitive, secluded hunting camp in Jefferson County about a decade ago, where they watched horror movies on a laptop and he abused them, prosecutors said. The victims were 8 and 15 at the time the crimes occurred, according to authorities.
Shapiro said he expected Poulson to have to register as a sex offender for at least a decade. Sentencing has not been scheduled.
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