Priest Spared Jail in Teenager Case

Buffalo News
February 27, 2012

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/police-courts/courts/article743072.ece

A Catholic priest convicted of having an inappropriate relationship with a teenage boy last year was spared jail Monday.

The Rev. Samuel Slocum, 60 — a Smethport, Pa., native who studied for the priesthood at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora — was ordered by Senior Court of Common Pleas Judge William F. Morgan in Smethport to serve two years of probation for his Jan. 18 conviction on charges of concealment of the whereabouts of a child and corruption of minors.

Slocum was not accused of having a sexual relationship with the boy, who testified at trial that he and his brother and other friends often visited Slocum at the rectory at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Church in Lewis Run, Pa.

The boy's mother testified that her son lied to her at Slocum's urging.

Slocum was acquitted of a felony count of interference with the custody of a child and a misdemeanor count of loitering and prowling at night.

Last month, he was barred from returning to active ministry by Bishop Donald Trautman of the Erie Diocese, formerly of Buffalo.

"I was not acting like a responsible adult," Slocum said during the Monday morning sentencing, according to a transcript of the proceeding.

Slocum also was ordered by the judge to perform 100 hours of community service, have no contact with the boy or the teen's family, and not to be alone with anyone under the age of 18 for at least the next two years.

Morgan also told Slocum to look for another job outside the priesthood.

"Even though you've learned a lesson, you can't put it to use in your old job," the judge told him. "You've pretty much messed that up."

Slocum was a priest in the Erie Diocese for more than three decades before his arrest.

Contact: mgryta@buffnews.com