PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Legal Intelligencer
Amaris Elliott-Engel
The Legal Intelligencer
March 23, 2012
The landscape of the trial of a Catholic Church official accused of endangering children by exposing them to allegedly abusive priests changed Thursday after one of the official’s co-defendants admitted in court to sexually abusing a 10-year-old.
The former priest pled guilty to the first-degree felony of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy. The priest also pled guilty to the third-degree felony of conspiracy to endanger the welfare of children for conspiring with church officials to conceal his history of sexual abuse from Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia parishioners.
Defendant Edward Avery was immediately sentenced to serve 30 to 60 months in prison by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina as part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors. Avery must report to prison 9 a.m. April 2.
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