Former Maryland Priest Gets 22 Years for Abuse

BALTIMORE (AP) — A former Maryland priest was sentenced Wednesday to 22 years in federal jail adopted by lifetime supervised launch for coercion and enticement of a kid he met via the church to have interaction in unlawful sexual exercise.

Fernando Cristancho, 65, who served as a priest from 1999 to 2002 at St. Ignatius Church in Hickory, additionally admitted producing nude photos of 4 different youngsters, U.S. Legal professional Erek Barron introduced in a information launch. Upon his launch, Cristancho should register as a intercourse offender within the locations the place he lives, works and research.

The plea settlement mentioned that when Cristancho arrived on the parish in 1999, he frolicked with a boy’s household exterior of church, then organized to spend time with the boy and sexually assaulted him over a number of years.

When Cristancho went to a retail pharmacy in 2017 to make use of picture printing tools, an worker seen a number of photographs of bare youngsters on Cristancho’s smartphone and made a report, prosecutors mentioned. Investigators later seized digital gadgets at Cristancho’s residence and located photographs and movies of kids, largely recorded when the kids have been youthful than 5.

An announcement posted on the archdiocese’s web site mentioned Cristancho has not been permitted to perform as a priest within the archdiocese since 2002 when he refused an task to a different parish.

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