A Catholic priest named John Thomas Sweeney pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in the Diocese of Greenburg, Pennsylvania.
The State Attorney General’s Office arrested and charged Sweeney with assault last summer.
During a press conference Tuesday, Attorney General Shapiro said over a year ago, “many congregants expressed disbelief” to the allegations against their priest.
Shapiro added that he understood their natural reaction to the situation. According to him, “I understand it’s hard for someone of faith to imagine that a trusted leader could have done something so despicable. But today there is no doubt, John Sweeney is accepting full responsibility and admitting what he did.”
During a a hearing at Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court, Sweeney pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault. His victim, now a young man in his thirties and serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, stood next to Shapiro during the press conference.
Shapiro called the young man a “hero” for telling the “difficult truth” about the priest and for “his concern that other children may become a victim.”
