FORT COLLINS, Colo.-
A defrocked Roman Catholic priest was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years to life in prison on charges that he sexually abused a teen boy.
Jurors convicted Timothy Joseph Evans, 44, in March of two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and one count of sexual assault on a child with a pattern of abuse.
Evans was accused of inappropriately touching a 17-year-old parishioner on two occasions on church property while serving as priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Fort Collins. Evans was a priest there from 1998 to 2002.
Three other witnesses testified at trial of similar accusations.
During the sentencing hearing Wednesday, District Court Judge Jolene Blair referred to the victims as credible, honorable young men who had the courage to testify.
Evans was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in a similar case in Jefferson County. He was convicted there in April of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.
In that case, he was accused of sexual assaulting a 16-year-old boy between 1995 and 1997 while assigned to the Spirit of Christ Parish in Arvada.
Evans was removed from parish ministry in Fort Collins in 2002 and was defrocked in 2003.
In a written statement, Denver Archbisop Charles Chaput said, “I deeply regret the pain that these damaging events have caused.”
