Former Colorado priest acquitted of sex assault
COLORADO SPRINGS — Jurors have acquitted a former Colorado Springs priest of charges that he sexually assaulted a teen boy, but they convicted him of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The Gazette reports Charles Robert “Bob” Manning also was acquitted Wednesday of child pornography counts.
The former pastor at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Colorado Springs was accused of coaxing a teen into sex acts during a booze and pot-fueled encounter in 2011. He retired in 2012 and moved into a home for retired priests in the St. Louis, Mo., area.
Defense attorney Richard Bednarski had told jurors that Manning was a target for false allegations and that Manning had looked at the teen as a surrogate grandson.
— The Associated Press
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