Pa. priest gets prison time on sex assault charges

A cloistered priest has been sentenced to six to 24 months in state prison on charges of inappropriate sexual contact with an eastern Pennsylvania teen.

The Rev. Phillip Ferrara pleaded no contest in September to indecent assault of a minor.

The 49-year-old Eastern Rite Catholic priest was sentenced Thursday in Susquehanna County Court.

A 14-year-old boy told police Ferrara forced him into having sexual contact on several occasions at the Our Lady of Solitude Retreat in Little Meadows

Public defender Linda LaBarbera said her client has a medical condition that causes severe pain, which impaired his judgment.

She said Ferrara is still a priest but lives in a supervised facility in Kansas and no longer participates in church rituals or has contact with children.