PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice
BY DAVID SINGLETON
Published: June 3, 2014
A suspended Diocese of Scranton priest who admitted meeting a 15-year-old boy for a sexual encounter will spend eight to 23 months in the Lackawanna County Prison.
The Rev. William Jeffrey Paulish, 57, of Blakely, told Judge Michael Barrasse he would like to change what happened Sept. 19 at the Penn State Worthington Scranton campus in Dunmore but he cannot.
“I should have known better,” the Rev. Paulish said.
In addition to handing down the eight- to 23-month jail sentence, Barrasse placed the Rev. Paulish on probation for two years and ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service. The priest will be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years under the Adam Walsh Act.
The Rev. Paulish was arrested after campus security discovered him with the teenager in the back of the priest’s 2009 Toyota Venza in a Worthington Scranton parking lot. The boy did not have pants on, and both he and the Rev. Paulish later said they had engaged in sex acts, police said.
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