A senior member of the Roman Catholic Church's bail was set at $250,000 by a Philadelphia judge on Monday, after the religious leader's guilty charge was reversed last Thursday.
62-year-old Monsignor William Lynn was arraigned in June 2012 in connection with a series of child sex abuse crimes that occurred at his Philadelphia parish, Reuters reported. He was charged with endangering the welfare of a child after he transferred a priest known for sexual abuse to the care of a child. The priest, Edward Avery, was later convicted of sexually attacking an altar boy.
Lynn was never accused of assaulting children himself, Reuters reported. But a Philadelphia court did find the Roman Catholic Church official guilty of keeping molestation allegations within the church under wraps.
According to Reuters, Common Pleas Court Judge Teresa Sarmina ruled that Lynn must give up his passport, make weekly correspondence with authorities and wear an ankle bracelet once he's discharged from prison. Lynn's charges were overturned on grounds of a lack of evidence.
During an appeals hearing, the religious leader's attorneys said that the law under which he was prosecuted didn't exist at the time the crimes were committed.
But on the other side, lawyers argued that Lynn was a mendacious man.
"Let's be clear, William Lynn is no patsy, he is no fall guy," District Attorney Seth Williams wrote in a statement obtained by Reuters. "He is a cold, calculating man who endangered the welfare of countless children for decades by moving known predators throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia."
Thomas Bergstrom, Lynn's attorney, said that the arrangements would be finalized closer to Thursday, and added that he wasn't sure where Lynn would live upon his release.
"The single charge that he was convicted of has now been reversed," Bergstrom told reporters in front of the courtroom. "He's probably going to have to spend much of his time in the Philadelphia area, which is fine."
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a group that works with victims of sexual assault, said the court's decision was disheartening.
"Msgr. Lynn's callousness, recklessness and deceit caused kids to be hurt and predators to walk free," the group wrote in a statement for Reuters. "We hope that Pennsylvania's highest court will re-instate his conviction."
