14 DAY TRIAL // Philadelphia Rev. Charles Engelhardt is set to go on trial for the abuse of a 10-year-old altar boy in a Northeast Philadelphia, in the 1990s.
According to a website dedicated to the trial, Engelhardt is scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. on Monday, January 14.
Four priests and the victim's sixth-grade lay teacher Bernard Shero were accused in the publicized trial, Philly writes. Among them was now 70-year-old Rev. Edward Avery, who pleaded guilty to the charges brought in 2011.
A church administrator has also been convicted for covering up the attacks, the same journal notes. William J. Lynn was found guilty of child endangerment, after a trial that ended in June 2012. He is currently serving a 3- to 6-year sentence at Waymart state prison. His attorney will be appealing the court's decision.
The defendant will be facing trial at this point, having wished to be separated from the other suspects in the case. The motion was accepted by M. Teresa Sarmina, the first trial judge on the case.
The victim has only been identified in court records as "Billy Doe." Engelhardt allegedly approached him after morning mass and told him he would teach him to "become a man."
He had caught the boy drinking sacramental wine, and poured him a glass, showing him adult magazines. Engelhardt allegedly abused him one week later, and made him advances again in two weeks’ time. When he was turned down, he stopped harassing the boy.
According to the now 23-year-old victim's testimony, teacher Bernard Shero abused him in his car, after offering to drive him home from school.
49-year-old Rev. James J. Brennan stands to be retried in a related case, on March 6. Having attended court at the same time as Lynn, the court could not reach a verdict. He is charged with the abuse of a 14-year-old boy back in 1996.