MILWAUKEE (WI)
Peoria Journal Star
Saturday, June 4, 2005
MILWAUKEE - A former Catholic priest from Kewanee was sentenced to 10 years in a Wisconsin state prison Friday after earlier pleading guilty to sexually abusing a teenage altar boy during trips to Milwaukee in the early 1980s.
Francis Engels, 69, pleaded guilty in April in Milwaukee County Circuit Court to two counts of second-degree sexual assault. Engels, who in 1993 was removed from his ministry within the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, faced a maximum of 10 years in prison on each count. He was sentenced to two consecutive five-year terms.
Engels admitted assaulting the boy, who is now 37, but said he doesn't recall the incidents alleged to have happened in 1982 and 1983. The hearing, which lasted about 1 1/2 hours included statements from the defense and prosecution, as well as a statement from the victim.
Engels served as pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Annawan before stepping down in 1993 amid allegations of sexual molestation from several former parishioners. He also had responsibility for St. Mary's Mission in Hooppole.
Posted by kshaw at June 4, 2005 03:50 AM