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Priest who abused boys gets term of up to 14 years

BROOKVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two boys and making one of them say confession after the assaults was sentenced Friday to 2 1/2 to 14 years in prison.

David Lee Poulson was sentenced in Jefferson County after pleading guilty in October to corruption of minors and child endangerment. He is one of two priests charged as a result of a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report that named almost 300 predator priests of abusing more than 1,000 victims over seven decades in six of the state’s dioceses.

Poulson, 65, who served in the Diocese of Erie, told the court his actions were “criminal and sinful.”

“I am ashamed of what I did,” he said after hearing the victim impact statements.

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