PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
By Dalondo Moultrie
Of The Morning Call
A former Allentown Catholic Diocese priest who has a record of sexual abuse and lives in Lower Macungie Township was charged Tuesday with trying to lure a 14-year-old boy to a Long Island hotel for sex.
Thomas J. Bender, 72, of 4015 Schoeneck Road, was caught in an Internet sting involving an undercover Nassau County, N.Y., detective, police said.
Since September 2004, Bender corresponded via the Internet with someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy but was really an undercover detective, Nassau County police said.
Bender set up a meeting with the boy for 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, and Detective John McGee arrested him, police said. They did not say where.
Police said Bender planned to take the boy to a hotel in Nassau County for sexual contact.