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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-priest19.html
Sex acts were for penance, priest's attorney says
April 19, 2004
BY SARAH COOKE
CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- A priest accused of molesting a teenage boy has pleaded no contest in the case, but argues that he committed the acts in question for spiritual reasons and not sexual gratification, his lawyer said Sunday.
Anthony Jablonowski, 69, was sentenced Thursday to between 15 months and seven years in prison for one count of taking indecent, immodest or immoral liberties with a minor, his attorney Dallas Laird
aid. The amount of time he serves will depend on his behavior in prison.
The victim, now in his late 30s, stepped forward recently with allegations that Jablonowski had molested him at least once in t
he
early 1980s at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Guernsey
, about 100 miles north of Cheyenne. He was 17 at the time.
During an investigation, authorities learned that Jablonowski regularly took men to the church basement, asking them to strip naked before they were gagged, blindfolded and hung upside down from the ceiling, Platte County prosecutor Eric Alden told the Denver Post in Sunday's editions.
According to Alden, the men's genitals were manipulated to induce pain while they prayed.
Laird said his client could not talk about the rituals, citing an oath of confidentiality concerning prayer and confession.
The activities were not sexual, and were tied to a legitimate practice of penance and redemptive suffering, Laird said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-priest19.html
Sex acts were for penance, priest's attorney says
April 19, 2004
BY SARAH COOKE
CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- A priest accused of molesting a teenage boy has pleaded no contest in the case, but argues that he committed the acts in question for spiritual reasons and not sexual gratification, his lawyer said Sunday.
Anthony Jablonowski, 69, was sentenced Thursday to between 15 months and seven years in prison for one count of taking indecent, immodest or immoral liberties with a minor, his attorney Dallas Laird
aid. The amount of time he serves will depend on his behavior in prison.
The victim, now in his late 30s, stepped forward recently with allegations that Jablonowski had molested him at least once in t
he
early 1980s at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Guernsey
, about 100 miles north of Cheyenne. He was 17 at the time.
During an investigation, authorities learned that Jablonowski regularly took men to the church basement, asking them to strip naked before they were gagged, blindfolded and hung upside down from the ceiling, Platte County prosecutor Eric Alden told the Denver Post in Sunday's editions.
According to Alden, the men's genitals were manipulated to induce pain while they prayed.
Laird said his client could not talk about the rituals, citing an oath of confidentiality concerning prayer and confession.
The activities were not sexual, and were tied to a legitimate practice of penance and redemptive suffering, Laird said.