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	Eastland County Priest Found Guilty on Sexual Assault, Indecency Charges By Celinda Emison Abilene Reporter-News March 26, 2009 http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/mar/26/jury-deliberating-eastland-priest/ EASTLAND -- A jury found the Rev. Thomas Teczar guilty of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child. The jury deliberated for only 50 minutes before returning the verdict. Thursday's verdict was the second time Teczar has been found guilty of the charges. Testimony in the punishment phase began after 91st District Judge Steven Herod announced the verdict and continues today. Teczar, a Catholic priest, was indicted in 2003 for the offenses against an 11-year old boy in June and July of 1990. Teczar was convicted on the same charges in 2007, but the conviction was overturned in October 2008 by the 11th Court of Appeals. Teczar was then sentenced, by Herod, to three 25-year terms for the aggravated sexual assault indictments and a 15-year term for indecency, all were to have been served concurrently. This time, the jury is deciding the punishment. The victim, who is now 30, testified during the trial that Teczar sexually assaulted him on three occasions after showing him pornography and plying him with marijuana and alcohol. During closing arguments, District Attorney Russ Thomason called Teczar a "wolf in sheep's clothing." "He clothed himself in respect and authority only to try to take the clothes off a young boy," Thomason said. Defense Attorney Robin Norris suggested the victim made the allegations against Teczar so he could win a lawsuit from the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth. Court records show the victim received $2.7 million in a settlement from the Fort Worth diocese. During the trial, Daniel Hawley, who had a homosexual relationship with Teczar in Ranger, testified that the priest did not abuse the boy. Hawley is serving 35 years for molesting the same victim, according to testimony. Teczar faces five to 99 years to life in prison and a $10,000 fine for the three aggravated assault charges and two to 20 years and a $10,000 fine for the indecency charge. During the punishment phase, a 58-year-old man testified that Teczar sexually assaulted him for over a year beginning at the age of 16 while Teczar served as the priest in a Catholic Church in Massachusetts. The man said he did not realize he had been sexually abused until he was 42 after seeing news of a sexual abuse scandal involving a priest on television. He said the abuse caused him lifelong problems. "It caused me to lose my faith," he said. Norris asked Teczar's younger brother Edward, of Arlington, if the priest would follow strict regulations if given probation. "Yes, of course," Edward Teczar said. Thomas Teczar served as a priest in the Worcester, Mass., diocese until he was kicked out in 1986 on allegations of misconduct with boys. He was a visiting priest in the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth from 1988-93 and served in several parishes, including St. Rita's Catholic Church in Ranger, where the 11-year-old was abused in 1991. He also served in Catholic parishes in Cisco and Strawn, according to testimony in the case. Teczar returned to Massachusetts after the abuse allegations surfaced in Texas. According to officials at the Fort Worth diocese, Teczar is a still a permanent member of the Diocese of Worcester, Mass., which has asked the Vatican to remove Teczar from the priesthood. The Fort Worth diocese has paid out more than $6 million to settle civil lawsuits with six men who accused Teczar of abusing them as boys. There are six victims in Texas, according to Tahira Merritt, a special prosecutor from Dallas who worked on the civil cases and the criminal case in Eastland. There have been seven victims identified in Massachusets. So far, this will be the only criminal prosecution, Merritt said, "because the other cases are too old." "No matter what, I think justice was done today, and finally children will be safe," Merritt said.
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