Cincinnati, OHIO – A Catholic priest that use to work in Mississippi is going to jail for molesting a little boy.
A federal judge in Cincinnati has sentenced Robert Poandl to seven and half years for taking the 10-year-old to West Virginia and sexually abusing him in 1991. The victim testified that he had considered killing Poandl and then taking his own life; but his family convinced him to go to the police instead.
Poandl worked in five Mississippi towns between the late 1960s and early ‘70s, including Okolona, Amory and Fulton. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests wants the Catholic leadership of Mississippi take steps to determine if Poandl had any victims in Mississippi. They suggest Catholic officers:
- visit each parish where Poandl worked and beg anyone who may have knowledge of or suspicions about clergy sex crimes or cover ups – involving Poandl or other priests – to contact police
- post his guilty verdict and sentence on parish and church web sites, newspapers and church bulletins.
