A retired Salesian priest already serving a decadelong stretch at the state prison in Gardner for rape of a child pleaded guilty yesterday to a separate abuse indictment brought against him after a second victim recognized the former reverend from his photo in the Herald.

Richard McCormick, 74 and on medication for heart and thyroid ailments, was charged with rape of a child, but pleaded out in Salem Superior Court yesterday to a charge of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14 in exchange for not raising any potential statute of limitations issues.

The 8-to-10-year sentence imposed by Judge Timothy Feeley will run concurrently with the 8 to 10 years the Boston native received in November after a jury convicted him of child rape. The new sentence, however, starts today and McCormick is not credited with time already served.

Prosecutors said both male victims, while summer campers in Rowley, were abused by McCormick between 1981 and 1983 when they were guests of the Salesian Society of North America pool in Ipswich.