Priest, ex-school teacher go on trial in US on charges they raped former altar boy

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 The Province

07 January 2013

By The Associated Press

Priest, ex-school teacher go on trial in US on charges they raped former altar boy

In this Sept. 7, 2012, file photo, Rev. Charles Engelhardt walks from the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia. Engelhardt is set to go on trial on charges he raped an altar boy in northeast Philadelphia in the late 1990s. Engelhardt has pleaded not guilty. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file)

PHILADELPHIA – A Roman Catholic priest and a former Catholic school teacher are going on trial on charges they raped a former altar boy.

Four jurors were selected Monday on the first day of jury selection in the case against the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero.

The case had been spun off from last year’s high-profile trial of a church official charged with helping the Philadelphia archdiocese cover up abuse complaints.

The 65-year-old Engelhardt and the 49-year-old Shero are charged with sexually assaulting an altar boy in the late 1990s. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Their lawyers wanted them tried separately from the defendants in last year’s case. The 61-year-old Rev. William Lynn is appealing his landmark conviction in that case, while serving a three- to six-year prison term.

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