PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review
January 24, 2019
By Natasha Lindstrom
A Roman Catholic deacon from McCandless was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service for convictions related to sending sexually explicit material to an undercover police officer posing online as a teenage boy.
Deacon Rosendo “Ross” Dacal, 74, pleaded guilty in October to felony counts of criminal solicitation of sexual acts via computer files and images and criminal use of a communication facility.
Washington County Common Pleas Judge Gary Gilman sentenced Dacal to two years’ probation for each count, with the sentences to run concurrently. Gilman further ordered Dacal to obtain mental health treatment, court records showed.
Dacal’s attorney, Robert Del Greco Jr., could not immediately be reached.
Following Dacal’s arrest last April on five charges , the Diocese of Pittsburgh placed Dacal on administrative leave. His security clearances at the Allegheny County Jail, where he was a chaplain, were revoked.
Dacal had served the All Saints Parish in Etna since 2011.
“The charges against (Dacal) are disturbing,” Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik said at the time. “We had no previous knowledge of his alleged activities.”
As of Thursday, Dacal remained on leave and cannot function as a deacon, said the Rev. Nicholas Vaskov, spokesman for the diocese.
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