Ohio Priest Sentenced 7.5 Years in Sex Abuse Case

Fox 19
February 13, 2014

http://www.fox19.com/story/24704794/robert-poandl-ohio-priest-sentenced-75-years-in-sex-abuse-case

[with video]

An Ohio priest convicted of taking a 10-year-old boy to West Virginia for sex more than two decades ago was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on Wednesday.

Federal jurors found Robert Frank Poandl, of the Fairfield-based Glenmary Home Missioners, guilty in September of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent of engaging him in sex.

Prosecutors said the priest took the boy from Cincinnati to West Virginia in 1991 and raped him while visiting a church there. The crime was not disclosed until the victim came forward in 2009.

A federal grand jury indicted Poandl, known as "Father Bob," in Nov. 2012. FBI agents arrested him at the Glenmary Home Missioners in Fairfield.

U.S. District Attorney Carter Stewart said Poandl was placed on house arrest with electronic monitoring following his arrest and will begin serving his sentence immediately.