Jury deliberates in trial for Ohio priest accused of taking boy to West Virginia for sex

9/20/2013

CINCINNATI — A jury has resumed deliberations in the trial of an Ohio priest charged with taking a 10-year-old boy to West Virginia for sex more than two decades ago.

Federal jurors in Cincinnati deliberated for a couple of hours Thursday in the case of Robert Poandl and resumed today. The Roman Catholic priest has pleaded not guilty to a charge of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent of engaging him in sex.

Prosecutors say the charge carries a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

The prosecutor told jurors that Poandl raped the boy in West Virginia after taking him on a visit to a church there in 1991.

Poandl’s attorney says the allegations are false and the boy didn’t go on the trip.