Priest, teacher convicted in Pa. church abuse case
A jury has convicted a priest and teacher in a church abuse case that has rocked the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
The verdict Wednesday supports claims by a 24-year-old policeman’s son that he was abused by the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and sixth-grade teacher Bernard Shero in about 1999.
His 2009 complaint describing abuse by two priests and the teacher led to a church official’s conviction last year for felony child abuse. Monsignor William Lynn is in prison for his role in transferring an admitted pedophile priest to the accuser’s parish in northeast Philadelphia.
Defense lawyers attacked the credibility of the accuser. He gave varying accounts of where and how the alleged abuse occurred.
The jury deadlocked on one sexual assault charge involving Engelhardt, and convicted him of conspiracy with another convicted priest who pleaded guilty to abusing the same boy.
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