Ohio Priest Found Guilty of Rape of Boy on Trip to W.va. in 1991

By Lisa Cornwell
Columbus Dispatch
September 21, 2013

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/09/21/ohio-priest-found-guilty-of-rape-of-boy-on-trip-to-w-va--in-1991.html

CINCINNATI — A priest charged with taking a 10-year-old boy to West Virginia for sex more than two decades ago was found guilty yesterday.

Jurors in federal court in Cincinnati found Robert Poandl, 72, guilty of one count of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent of engaging him in sex, a charge that carries a possible sentence of 10 years in prison.

Poandl, from the Glenmary Home Missioners in suburban Cincinnati, took the boy to Spencer, W.Va., on Aug. 3, 1991, and raped him while visiting a church there, prosecutors said.

Poandl’s attorney, Stephen Wenke, told jurors that the allegations were false, denying the boy was even on the trip.

The accuser, now 32, did not tell law-enforcement officials in West Virginia that he’d been abused until 2009. Poandl was indicted there on charges of sexually abusing the boy, but a judge dismissed the case in 2010.

Prosecutors told jurors that the priest had told the boy’s parents he needed someone to ride with him to keep him awake and navigate, but then raped the boy after they arrived at the West Virginia church. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Oakley said the priest then told the boy that they had sinned and needed to pray for forgiveness.

Wenke countered that the accuser’s story changed through the years and was full of inconsistencies.

The federal trial began on Monday after U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett had earlier rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case over a statute of limitations. The judge ruled that the prosecution clearly alleged an offense involving sexual abuse of a child, and federal law permits prosecution of child sexual abuse at any time during the life of the accuser.

A sentencing date hasn’t been set for the priest, who will remain at Glenmary until sentencing. The judge ordered him to be monitored electronically and said he may not leave except for medical appointments and meetings with his attorney. The priest isn’t allowed contact with children, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Muncy said.