HARRISBURG, Pa. — Note: The video above is from March 2019.
A defrocked Catholic priest from York County accused of molesting two boys in a Harrisburg church between 1997 and 2002 was sentenced to five years of probation Tuesday morning in Dauphin County court.
John Allen, 77, was charged with molesting the victims while they served as altar boys at St. Margaret Mary's Alacoque Church.
In addition to probation, which was arranged as part of a plea agreement with the county district attorney's office, Dauphin County Judge Deborah E. Curcillo ruled that Allen must register as a sex offender with State Police for the rest of his life and will undergo perpetual sex offender counseling. His neighbors will also be informed of his crimes as part of his sentencing.
Allen pleaded guilty to several counts of indecent assault and corruption of minors in exchange for the sentence.
Allen is one of more than 300 priests named in a state grand jury report released in 2018 that accused them of molesting children in parishes across the state.
More than 1,000 people, most of them children, were sexually abused in six Pennsylvania diocese over several decades, according to the grand jury investigation.
Allen is accused of grabbing one of his accusers' buttocks on several occasions between 1999 and 2002, when the victim was between the ages of 10 and 13.
The other victim accused Allen of touching his buttocks and genitals several times between 1997 and 1999, when the victim was between the ages of 12 and 14.