A Massachusetts priest is free on bond while he awaits a new trial on charges of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy in the 1990s.The Boston Herald reports that Fr. Thomas Teczar posted a $30,000 bond earlier this month.
As a requirement for his release, Teczar must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle until his second trial next month, said Eastland County District Attorney Russ Thomason.
In 2007, he was convicted on three counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of indecency with a child. He was sentenced to 25 years on each assault charge and 15 years on the indecency count.
Last fall, an appeals court overturned the conviction because of problems with establishing a witness as an expert and for allowing testimony about abuse allegations for which he wasn't charged.
The diocese is in the process of defrocking him, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says.
Teczar served as a priest in the Worcester, Mass., diocese until he was removed in 1986 for misconduct with boys.
He was a priest in the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese from 1988-93 and served in several parishes, including Ranger in Eastland County, where the 11-year-old was allegedly abused.
He returned to Massachusetts after the abuse allegations surfaced in Texas, diocese officials have said.
In 2005 the Fort Worth diocese settled for $4.15 million a lawsuit with two of Teczar's accusers, including one who filed the criminal complaint in Eastland County.
A few months after Teczar's trial, the diocese reached an undisclosed settlement with three more men who said they were raped by Teczar about 20 years ago in Ranger.
In 2008, the diocese announced another undisclosed settlement with a sixth man who also accused Teczar of sexual abuse.
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(Source: BH)