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	Former Archbishop Gets 8 Years for Sex Abuse ABC News (Australia) December 31, 2009 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/31/2783217.htm?section=justin The former archbishop of Argentina's Santa Fe province has been sentenced to eight years in prison for "aggravated sexual abuse" against a seminarian, a court source said. Judge Maria Mascheroni said Edgardo Storni, 73, took advantage of his access to and authority over a young man when the crime was committed in 1992, while he was archbishop. The victim in the case expressed "relief" that the former top Catholic official in the region finally would have to pay for his crime. Ruben Descalzo says Storni's conviction and punishment would help him "turn the page" from what has been a "painful" chapter of his life. "I thought that this sentencing would never come," he said. Under Argentine law, Storni will serve out his sentence under house arrest because he is more than 70 years old. Storni's attorney said he would appeal, as the court conviction had been based on unsubstantiated "rumors, accusation and suspicions." The former cleric had been the subject of an internal church investigation begun in 1994 for alleged sexual misconduct, but Church officials declined to comment on the court sentence. Storni, who has maintained his innocence, resigned as archbishop in 2002 amid a swirl of allegations that he had abused numerous young clerics under his authority. He currently resides on a farm in the Cordoba province of northwestern Argentina.
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