BishopAccountability.org
 
  Priest Pleaded

Kansas City Star (Kansas & Missouri)
May 12, 2001

Mid-America digest - Kansas

HAYS - A Roman Catholic priest on Friday pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent liberties with a child.

The charges stemmed from the accusation by a former student at Thomas More Prep-Marian High School. The student accused the Rev. Ron S. Gilardi, 53, of molesting him during the 14 months he was a boarding student at the school in 1993 and 1994. The boy was 14 years old when the molestation began. Gilardi taught at the school from 1988 to 1996.

Ellis County Attorney Tom Drees told Ellis County District Judge Ed Bouker an agreement had been reached between Gilardi and prosecutors that he would plead guilty to three of the 14 original counts.

The agreement calls for Gilardi to serve the first 32 months in a treatment facility for clerics who have committed sexual offenses, Drees said. It is the same treatment facility where he has been since shortly after his arrest last summer. If he finishes treatment before the end of 32 months, he will go to prison, Drees told Bouker. If treatment takes longer than 32 months, he will remain in treatment until he finishes the program, for up to 96 months.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.