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	Retired Priest Sentenced for Molestation Associated Press September 10, 2007 http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ixFkydWu7qiPabIeODTYR1AGtRhg Syracuse, N.Y. — A retired Catholic priest was sentenced to 60 days in jail Monday for repeatedly molesting a teenage boy years after he was dismissed from public ministry over earlier allegations of sexual abuse in Delaware. Francis DeLuca, 77, at first faced only probation, but City Judge Kate Rosenthal backed out of that deal, saying DeLuca did not appear to understand the consequences of his conduct. He began his sentence immediately. DeLuca pleaded guilty in June to one count of second-degree sexual abuse, two counts of third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child for molesting the boy from 2002, when the victim was 13, and 2005, when he was 16. DeLuca returned to his hometown of Syracuse in the early 1990s after he was allowed to resign from the Diocese of Wilmington, Del., where he had served for 35 years. A diocese spokesman said an investigation after a complaint in 1993 found DeLuca had molested three or four children in the 1960s. Shortly after DeLuca was arrested in the Syracuse case last fall, Wilmington Bishop Michael Saltarelli released the names of 20 diocesan priests, including DeLuca, against whom the diocese had substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse. A Florida man who says DeLuca molested him as a child sued him and the Wilmington Diocese in July, saying church officials knew as early as 1958 that DeLuca was sexually abusing young boys, yet continued to allow him to serve as a priest for a generation. It was the first lawsuit filed under a new Delaware law allowing victims of child sexual abuse to seek damages for abuse that occurred years ago. In addition to the jail time, DeLuca was sentenced to six years' probation and was declared a low-level sex offender.
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