$2 million settlement reached in Pennsylvania clergy sexual abuse case

A victim of abuse by a Catholic priest in Erie, Pennsylvania was awarded a $2 million settlement on Tuesday.

The abuse occurred from 2002 to 2010 by Father David Poulson, according to a news release from the victim's attorney.

Poulson was sentenced to up to 14 years in prison after resigning from his position within the church and pleading guilty to criminal charges of corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children in 2018. He was defrocked by Pope Francis earlier this month.

Authorities alleged Poulson sexually assaulted a boy repeatedly in church rectories at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Fryburg and St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Cambridge Springs. They also alleged Poulson tried to assault a second boy at a remote hunting cabin that he owned with a friend in Jefferson County.
The boys were eight and 15 at the time.

According to the settlement, the victim was a minor at the time of the abuse.

"The Diocese recognizes [the victim]'s tremendous courage in coming forward to report this abuse, apologizes for the horrific acts perpetuated by Fr. Poulson while holding himself out to be a man of God," the settlement said.

Poulson was one of more than 300 priests from six Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses that a grand jury said in an August report were credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims since 1947.

But he was one of only two priests named in the August report to be charged with crimes. The grand jurors said that the rest of the cases were too old to be prosecuted, because of statutes of limitations.