WHAT A HEEL: Catholic School Principal Jailed For Embezzling Money Allegedly Used To Silence Sexually Abused Students
The Rev. Charles Newman, 58, former principal of the largest Roman Catholic high school in Philadelphia, began serving a three-to-six-year prison sentence for three to six years for stealing $881,000. Prosecutors and parents believe that Newman used the money to “buy silence from students he molested,” as well as to “ply current or former students with drugs and alcohol,” reports The Associated Press:
Former student Arthur Baselice III told authorities that Newman started sexually abusing him in 1995, when he was a junior and Newman was principal of Archbishop Ryan High School. The pair would meet at Newman's office or residence and often used drugs together while having sex, prosecutors said.
Baselice tried unsuccessfully to sue the archdiocese before dying of a drug overdose in 2006 at age 28. Over the years, Newman gave him $54,000, in part to feed his drug habit, Baselice's lawyer has said.
In court Friday, retired Philadelphia police officer Arthur Baselice Jr. called Newman, who also must serve 10 years probation, "a vicious predator" who took advantage of his son.
Newman, though, described their relationship as consensual and said it began only after Baselice turned 18. …
Newman spent more than 20 years as a teacher and principal at Ryan before becoming president - and gaining control of various bank accounts - in 2002. He was fired 15 months later.
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