Monsignor in Child-Sex-Abuse Case Emerges from Prison Thinner

By Mensah M. Dean
The Philadelphia Daily News
January 7, 2014

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140107_Monsignor_in_child-sex-abuse_case_emerges_from_prison_thinner.html

[with video]

MONSIGNOR William Lynn left court yesterday afternoon swarmed by reporters and a few hecklers, the latter shouting "pedophile," saying he should "burn in hell" and telling him to stay away from their children.

Stern-faced and 80 pounds thinner than when he was sent to prison, Lynn, 63, ignored both the reporters and the hecklers as he and his supporters walked quickly across Filbert Street.

Lynn, accused of moving pedophile priests from parish to parish, was convicted in 2012 on one count of child endangerment. But last month the state Superior Court overturned that conviction, leading to his release last week.

By then, he had served 18 months of a three- to six-year prison sentence for his role in the city's clergy-child-abuse case.

District Attorney Seth Williams, who vowed to appeal, has criticized the Superior Court decision and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for paying Lynn's bail. Lynn was the Archdiocese secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004.

Contact: DEANM@PHILLYNEWS.COM