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	Former Pastor Pleads Guilty to Sex Charge By Gary Grado East Valley Tribune October 17, 2006 http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=76776 A former associate pastor at Chandler's St. Mary's Catholic Church pleaded guilty Tuesday to having sex with a teenaged parishioner more than 23 years ago. Under terms of the plea agreement, The Rev. Joseph Briceno probably won't spend much time beyond his Dec. 15 sentencing day behind bars, his lawyer, Karla Momberger said. Briceno, who admitted in Maricopa County Superior Court to committing two sex acts on different occasions on a 17-year-old boy in 1983, will be sentenced under laws from that period, which allow for a prisoner's time to be cut in half for good behavior. The law changed in 1994 requiring convicts to serve 85 percent of their sentences. Momberger said she doesn't expect Briceno, who has been in jail since his December arrest in California, to be sentenced to no more than 1.5 years, and he'll be given credit for his time served. And if that time is cut in half for good behavior, then he will have already served his time by Dec. 15, Momberger said. Briceno was looking at serving more than 30 years in prison if he had been convicted at trial, which began earlier this month. The 2003 indictment alleges Briceno had sex with the boy on seven occassions between June 1982 and August 1983 and grabbed the breast of his older sister on one occassion. Both victims were in the courtroom for the change of plea. "The plea really speaks for itself," said the husband of the woman. The Tribune does not disclose the names of victims of sexual crimes. In June 2003, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office ended a yearlong investigation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, indicting several pedophile priests for molestations they committed decades ago. St. Mary's was particularly hit hard with the indictment of four former priests. Three have been convicted and one died before his arrest. Contact Gary Grado by email: ggrado@aztrib.com, or phone (480) 898-6573
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