Former Catholic Priest Wayland Brown was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison in South Carolina for raping boys from a middle school four decades ago.<\/p>\n
The 76-year-old wore his priest collar while raping the boys, then prayed the rosary with them.<\/p>\n
The investigation into Priest Brown started in 2016 when the Diocese of Savannah paid $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit by a man who said Brown sexually abused him.<\/p>\n
Solicitor Duffie Stone says:<\/p>\n
> “He not only violated the trust of children, but violated their faith. He used the Catholic faith against them.<\/p>\n
Priest Brown already served five years of a 10-year sentence in Maryland for sexually abusing two other boys. Pope John Paul II dismissed him from the priesthood after that 2004 conviction.<\/p>\n
Priest Brown’s guilty plea comes as the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is under increased scrutiny for its handling of sex abuse cases. A Pennsylvania grand jury report in August found about 300 Catholic priests had abused more than 1,000 children statewide since the 1940s. Federal investigators are taking a closer look at those cases to see if church leaders covered up for abusive priests.<\/p>\n
In South Carolina, Priest Brown faced up to 210 years in prison on the nine counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor.<\/p>\n
Priest Brown molested the boys while they attended St. James Catholic School in Savannah. He attacked them in a church and abandoned train depot in Hardeeville as well as other places.<\/p>\n
After raping them, Priest Brown told the boys they faced eternal condemnation for them and their families if they told anyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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