PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Reuters
By Dave Warner
PHILADELPHIA | Thu Jul 5, 2012
(Reuters) – Monsignor William Lynn, the first senior U.S. Roman Catholic Church official to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse, was sent back to prison on Thursday after a judge rejected his bid for house arrest.
Family members sobbed in the court gallery after Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina denied Lynn’s request to be released to the home of a distant relative in Philadelphia.
The judge did, however, grant his request to move up his sentencing to July 24 from August 13. Lynn, 61, faces up to seven years in prison.
The former secretary of the clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, who was in effect personnel manager for 800 priests, was convicted in June of child endangerment for covering up sex abuse allegations, often by transferring priests to unsuspecting parishes.
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