ERIE (PA)
Trib Live
May 31, 2018
Debra Erdley
A former Catholic priest from the Erie Diocese is headed to trial on charges that he sexually abused two boys over a period of years.
The Rev. David Poulson, 64, of Oil City, is one of two priests– one each from the Greensburg and Erie dioceses– facing charges stemming from a statewide grand jury probe of allegations of sexual abuse in six Catholic dioceses across the state.
A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office said Poulson, formerly a priest in the Erie Diocese, waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Brookville on Thursday on charges that he repeatedly sexually abused two boys in a remote Jefferson County cabin.
Bail remained at 10 percent of $300,000 for the former priest who has been held in the Jefferson County Jail since his arrest last month.
Poulson was a Catholic priest in the Erie diocese for four decades until earlier this year. He was charged with indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. Three of those counts are felonies. The charges were recommended by a statewide investigating grand jury.
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