He tried to assault another boy at a remote hunting cabin that he owned with a friend in Jefferson County.
Furthermore, Shapiro stressed that the Diocese of Erie is aware of Poulson’s predatory tendencies since May 2010. At the time, the diocese under the leadership of Bishop Donald Trautman, “did nothing to report him to authorities until September 2016.”
He said, “For more than 7 years, the Diocese of Erie allowed Poulson to remain a priest, even though they knew he was a predator. They allowed him to stay there as a threat to others. The jail sentence Poulson received today will finally bring a sense of justice…” to his two victims.
Poulson is the second Catholic priests sentenced to prison for child sexual abuse.
Last month, Judge Meagan Bilik-Defazio of the Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court sentenced Father John Thomas Sweeney to 11 ½ months to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy. Sweeney pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault
Poulson and Sweeney are among the 301 predator priests identified in the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury Report.
