By The Associated Press

Published: Sunday, January 13, 2013, 8:38 p.m.
Updated: Sunday, January 13, 2013

PHILADELPHIA — A troubled police officer's son who accuses two Roman Catholic priests and a teacher of raping him during boyhood is set to testify at a Philadelphia trial this week — and have his startling claims challenged for the first time.

The young man, identified by the pseudonym Billy in a 2011 grand jury report, testified in a landmark priest-abuse case last year. But in a strategic move, lawyers for the church official on trial never cross-examined him.

Monsignor William Lynn's lawyers doubted Billy's story, but they feared their questions would open the door for jurors to learn that one of the accused priests had taken a plea deal.

Lynn later became the first U.S. church official ever convicted over his handling of abuse complaints. He's serving three to six years in prison for endangering Billy's safety by moving the Rev. Edward Avery, a suspected pedophile, to St. Jerome's Parish.

“I thought I did something wrong — and it's a priest,” Billy testified about his 1999 encounter with Avery. “I didn't think anyone would believe me.”

The other two rape suspects will go on trial on Monday, and Billy's credibility — under potentially fierce cross-examination — may determine the outcome.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt, an Oblate of St. Francis, and Bernard Shero, Billy's sixth-grade teacher, have pleaded not guilty to rape, indecent assault, child endangerment and other charges.

Both Engelhardt, 66, of Wyndmoor and Shero, 49, of Levittown rejected plea offers of 7½ to 15 years in prison, and face far more time if convicted. A gag order prevents them or their lawyers from commenting on the case.

In the adult Billy, the jury will see an accuser who's spent much of his life battling drugs, alcohol and arrests for petty crimes. By his own count, he's been in rehab nearly three dozen times. He told the jury in Lynn's trial that he had started smoking marijuana at 11, a year after the abuse began. He then moved on to heroin, painkillers and other drugs.

According to the grand jury report, Billy's abuse began after Engelhardt caught the 10-year-old drinking altar wine at St. Jerome's Parish in northeast Philadelphia. The priest let him get drunk, showed him pornography and assaulted him the next week after Mass, the report stated. Months later, it was Avery's turn, the report said. Avery twice assaulted the boy after Mass, after forcing him to do a striptease, according to the report and Billy's testimony.

The abuse by Shero allegedly started a year later, when the teacher offered him a ride home. Shero instead took him to a park where he raped him, the grand jury said.

Billy has a civil lawsuit pending against the Philadelphia Archdiocese that's on hold until after the criminal trial. His civil lawyer has described him as ready, if nervous, to testify.

“He's been through it once, but in a very different scenario,” lawyer Slade McLaughlin said last fall, as an earlier trial date approached.

He did not immediately return a call for comment on Friday.

1. Fire chief says search almost complete in Oklahoma
2. Massive tornado roars through Oklahoma City suburb
3. FBI cast reporter as criminal in probe of North Korea leak
4. IRS targeting of conservative groups was no secret
5. Powerball officials: 80 percent of number combinations picked
6. Senators agree on fingerprinting to exit country
7. ‘Fast and Furious’ attorney retaliated against whistle-blower, Justice Department inspector general says
8. Amid debris of tornado-ravaged Texas town, ‘miracle’ dog found
9. Pennsylvania trooper injured in North Carolina accident
10. FBI cast reporter as criminal in probe of North Korea leak
11. 2nd effort for media shield law suggested as Obama, Holder claim no involvement in subpoenas of AP phone records

There are currently no comments for this story.
Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.