Prison Sentences Upheld for Priest and Lay Teacher in Sexual Assault of Altar Boy

By Matt Gelb
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 26, 2015

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150327_Prison_sentences_upheld_for_priest_and_lay_teacher_in_sexual_assault_of_altar_boy.html

Charles Engelhardt (left) and ex-teacher Bernard Shero (right).

A state Superior Court panel upheld this week the prison sentences of a Catholic priest and former parochial-school teacher convicted of sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy from Northeast Philadelphia.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero, a former St. Jerome teacher, were sentenced by a Common Pleas Court judge in June 2013 for abuse that occurred in the late 1990s.

Their lawyers appealed, contending prosecutorial misconduct and citing new evidence.

Engelhardt died Nov. 15, 2014, just weeks after his appeal was heard. He was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison for child endangerment, corruption of a minor, and indecent assault. Prosecutors said Engelhardt offered Communion wine to the boy, forced him to disrobe, and assaulted him at the church's sacristy.

Shero was convicted of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, child endangerment, corruption of a minor, and indecent assault. He was sentenced to eight to 16 years in prison.

He provided the same victim a ride home after school, prosecutors said, but instead took him to a secluded parking lot and raped him in 2000.

Contact: mgelb@phillynews.com