PENNSYLVANIA
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Roewe | Jan. 8, 2015
A Philadelphia priest convicted of child sexual abuse claimed his innocence up to his death, according to reports from his prison cellmate.
Fr. Charles Engelhardt, 67, died Nov. 15 at Coal Township Prison in central Pennsylvania two years into a six-to-12-year sentence. In January 2013, a jury convicted the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales priest of corruption of minors, indecent assault of a person under age 13, and endangering the welfare of children.
The charges related to the case of former altar boy “Billy Doe” that over the course of two trials in two years imprisoned Engelhardt, a former priest and a schoolteacher, for abusing the former altar boy in the late 1990s. In addition, Msgr. William Lynn, secretary of clergy for the Philadelphia archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, was found guilty of child endangerment for his handling of the related abuse claims. He was the first U.S. church official convicted on such grounds.
In a February 2011 grand jury report, which brought charges against Lynn, Engelhardt and three others, Engelhardt was accused of showing Doe pornographic magazines and engaging in mutual masturbation and oral sex; at trial, Doe reiterated those allegations.
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