A priest and former Bradford Central Christian High School teacher has been arrested on indecent assault allegations filed in Jefferson County.
The Rev. David Poulson, 64, of Brookville, was incarcerated in Jefferson County Jail Tuesday in lieu of $300,000 bail in the case.
Poulson was arraigned Tuesday morning before District Judge Gregory Bazylak on allegations that he sexually assaulted boys at church rectories in Clarion and Crawford counties and a hunting camp in Jefferson County.
In addition to the two victims named in the case, the statewide investigating grand jury heard from nine witnesses who had contact with Poulson when they were minors. This includes one man who was a minor student at Bradford Central Christian in 1979.
At a press conference Tuesday on the charges against Poulson, Attorney General Josh Shapiro was asked about the former Bradford Central Christian student.
Shapiro pointed to the student as a reason to eliminate the current timeframe for the statute of limitations on sexual assault cases. He implored the state legislature to do away with the time limit in which charges may be filed.
“The statute of limitations prohibit us from pursuing charges,” he said. “This victim and all victims are entitled to justice.”
Shapiro added, “That victim has a voice and it is important for him to be heard.”
Poulson was 26 years old when he received his first assignment in Bradford following his June 22, 1979, ordination as a Roman Catholic priest. From July 5, 1979, to June 9, 1982, Poulson served as a faculty member at Bradford Central Christian and as a weekend education staff member at St. Francis of Assisi, court records stated.
During the course of his career, he had assignments in Erie, Clearfield, Morrisdale, Clarion, Fryburg, Cambridge Springs and Meadville.
On Feb. 13, The Diocese of Erie announced that Poulson was being removed from ministry and being prohibited from having contact with minors due to an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against him.
According to the diocese, Poulson was serving as pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Cambridge Springs at the time and was removed from assignments including chaplain at the state prison in Cambridge Springs, bishop’s delegate for Mass in the Extraordinary Form, diocesan liaison to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and diocesan chaplain for the World Apostolate of Fatima.
On April 6, the diocese released a list — which included Poulson —of priests with “credible accusations” against them of abusive conduct. The release coincided with the announcement of updates to the diocese’s Policy for the Protection of Children and Youth.
Poulson is charged with indecent assault of a person less than 13, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors, all third-degree felonies; indecent assault of a person less than 13, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors, all first-degree misdemeanors; indecent assault of a person less than 16 and indecent assault without consent, both second-degree misdemeanors.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office are both listed as prosecutors on the case docket.
According to court records, Poulson would take minor boys to a small cabin in Jefferson County that he owned with a friend, state police Sgt. Mark Bettwy. Poulson, a former faculty member at Gannon University, met Bettwy when Bettwy was a student there. The pair bought the approximately 40-acre property in the mid-2000s.
Bettwy told the grand jury on March 12 that he knew Poulson would take boys to the cabin. On April 16, Bettwy returned to the grand jury and reported that Poulson told him when they purchased the property that it was “his desire to see property ownership relinquished to the Bettwy family in the event that (Poulson) was ever accused of molesting altar boys,” court records stated.
Poulson admitted to the Diocesan counsel “that he was attracted to young men” and provided the names of six children he took to the cabin, court records stated. Counsel provided the names to the Attorney General’s Office.
Court records stated that one alleged victim told law enforcement that Poulson began to molest the boy when he was about 8 years old; the abuse continued on a bi-weekly basis from 2002 to 2010, lasting until the boy was 16.
During this time, Poulson made the boy “go to confession and confess the sexual abuse to Poulson in his capacity as a priest,” records stated.
The abuse allegedly occurred in the rectories at St. Michael’s in Fryberg and St. Anthony’s in Cambridge Springs, usually on Sundays after Mass. The alleged victim said Poulson took him to his cabin between five and 10 times. The one-room cabin, though “new looking,” had no heat, water or electricity, court records stated.
The second victim mentioned in court records indicated that between 2003 and 2006, he was between the ages of 15 and 18 when he was in contact with Poulson. The teen allegedly went alone with Poulson to the camp several times.
On Sept. 1, 2016, the grand jury issued a subpoena to the diocese requiring the diocese to produce all records related to child sexual abuse by the diocese’s priests and religious leaders.
Among the records was a confidential memorandum dated May 4, 2010, in which Bishop Donald Trautman stated that complaints were received about Poulson’s contact with minors, court records stated.
Poulson allegedly admitted in a recorded interview with Trautman that he sent text messages to minor males that were “suggestive to sexual advances” and that he hugged a boy who he felt sexually attracted to while tutoring him.
The memorandum indicated the bishop “admonished” Poulson, told him to “cease and desist” the behavior and told him it was a violation of Diocesan policy to spend time alone with a minor.
Poulson remained in active ministry in the diocese until he resigned on Feb. 12 this year.
Trautman retired as bishop in the Erie Diocese in 2012. He was replaced by Bishop Lawrence Persico, who remains in the position.
A preliminary hearing for Poulson is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. May 21. No attorney is listed for Poulson.
