Young Boys

PITTSBURGH - A suspended Catholic priest expressed remorse to everyone but the young boys depicted in pornography Wednesday before he was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for collecting more than 5,000 images of child porn on his computer, in books and on compact discs. The sentence that the Rev. Bartley Sorensen, 63, received was more than the five-year mandatory minimum sentence he sought but less than the 10-year maximum he faced. "I served the diocese for 35 years.

A Protestant minister was put on probation and ordered to steer clear of children yesterday after admitting he exposed himself to young boys in the bathroom of a public swimming pool in Bucks County. W. Mark Bartlett, 47, former pastor of Levittown Wesleyan Church in Falls Township, pleaded guilty in Bucks County Court to indecent exposure and open lewdness. Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. sentenced Bartlett to three years of probation and fined him $1,000. Fritsch also ordered him to complete a county sex-offenders program, to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 16, and to stay away from parks, playgrounds and other places where children gather.

Last year, Priscilla Dawson, principal of Blaine Elementary School in North Philadelphia, recognized a need and found a solution to it - right before her eyes. As she watched fathers coming to the school for parent-teacher meetings or to pick up their children, she realized they might be able to provide guidance to the many male students from female-headed households. The result was "Men of Blaine" a support group for boys at the school. This week's hero, Baba-A Adeyward-I, whose daughters attend Blaine, is an active member.

By Marcia Gelbart Authorities said Sunday the two boys wounded by stray bullets as they played outside Saturday afternoon in Southwest Philadelphia are brothers. Police would not release their names because they are minors. A 2-year-old boy, who was struck once in the groin, is in critical condition at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His older brother, who is 8, was hit twice in the buttocks and is in stable condition at the same hospital. The supposed target of the shooting, a 19-year-old male, was also wounded, police said.

Here it is, just weeks after Ed Savitz' death, and his headline-grabbing, self-promoting, media-happy attorneys still won't let the man or the memory fade into the obscurity he deserves. Perhaps they thought (or hoped) that I wouldn't respond to their absurd treatise (Commentary Page, May 12) on their late client, or perhaps they were hoping that I would respond so that they would have one last gush of publicity before they advertise their book, movie or TV docudrama (or maybe all three)

As the black middle class in Philadelphia and elsewhere in the nation emerges socially and economically, it has tended to become ever more distant from the ghetto communities of its origin. This absence has led to the diminution of an extremely important source of moral and social leadership within the ghetto community. In pursuit of status and employment opportunities and out of a sense of genuine concern for their survival, members of the black middle class and those who aspire to it tend increasingly to leave the ghetto behind.

They come into the city from their suburban homes and troll the streets of Kensington and Frankford, searching in the shadows of the El for their prey. They find willing boys, pick them up in their cars and take them to their suburban lairs. The boys are given money, treated to dinner, but then they must take care of the sexual needs of their hosts. This is how officers of the Philadelphia police sex crimes unit describe the activities of pedophiles, usually successful middle-aged men from the other side of the city limits who have found easy pickings in the neighborhood around Bridge and Pratt streets.

The Philadelphia Police Department has launched an internal investigation into why two young boys were held in police custody for almost 19 hours following their arrest Wednesday for allegedly stealing eggs from a tractor- trailer in North Philadelphia, authorities said yesterday. While Francisco Rivera, 10, and Luis Franco, 12, were held at the 24th Police District at Front and Westmoreland Streets, neither was given any food, police said. In addition, Rivera, who is required to take daily doses of medication for nerves, depression and insomnia, was not given any of his prescriptions, despite repeated requests by his family to have the drugs administered.

A 19-year-old Frankford man yesterday pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting five girls and pleaded "no contest" to molesting five boys in a series of attacks on children last year. "Psychologically, he didn't want to admit to having sex with boys," Assistant District Attorney Gina Smith said, explaining the no-contest pleas. "From the prosecution's standpoint, it's a distinction without a difference" that will not affect his sentence. Common Pleas Court Judge Amanda Cooperman accepted the pleas from Lamar Zamichieli and found him guilty of all of the charges.

A school janitor was arrested yesterday and charged with molesting young boys in his Browns Mills home, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office. James E. Dilbeck, 30, head custodian of the Joseph Stackhouse School in Pemberton Township, is accused of sexually assaulting four boys, ages 7 through 11, from January to March. None of the alleged victims attended the school where Dilbeck worked. They do, however, attend Pemberton Township schools, according to district spokesman Eric Talarico.

PITTSBURGH - A suspended Catholic priest expressed remorse to everyone but the young boys depicted in pornography Wednesday before he was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for collecting more than 5,000 images of child porn on his computer, in books and on compact discs. The sentence that the Rev. Bartley Sorensen, 63, received was more than the five-year mandatory minimum sentence he sought but less than the 10-year maximum he faced. "I served the diocese for 35 years.

When he stood trial on accusations that he was a serial molester of young boys, Jerry Sandusky considered, then thought better of, taking the stand to defend himself. Now a convicted sex offender, the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach will be in Centre County Court again Tuesday to be sentenced. Sandusky, his lawyer says, is pressing for another opportunity to speak for himself. "He continues to hope he'll get another shot," defense attorney Joseph Amendola said.

Former high school baseball coach and city court employee Louis Spadaccini pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he gave drugs and alcohol to two teenage boys last year and sexually assaulted one of them. Spadaccini, 38, reached a plea deal with prosecutors that would put him behind bars for 12 to 24 years, followed by five years of probation, Assistant District Attorney Branwen McNabb said. Spadaccini would also have to register as a sex offender for life under Megan's Law. He pleaded guilty in the two cases to nine charges including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, corruption of a minor, and furnishing liquor to a minor.

How touchy can you get? When Penn State football fans hear the lyrics to the Neal Diamond song, "Sweet Caroline" - "touching you, touching me" - they immediately think of Jerry Sandusky. Right? Well, they won't this season, because the song, which has a long history of being played at sporting events, including at Penn State football games, has been stricken from the repertoire. Heaven forbid that we use the term "banned. " "Although the lyrics were brought up and discussed, to say the song was 'banned' because of the lyrics would not be accurate," said Gregory J. Myford, associate administrator of business relations and communications at Penn State.

ONE OF the first things you learn in college is how to do many things at the same time. It wasn't called multi-tasking when I was a Penn State student, but like most Penn Staters, I mastered it early. Therefore, as a person who can handle many things at once, I would like to say to all those who accuse Penn State supporters of not caring about Jerry Sandusky's victims that I can, at the same moment in time, feel terrible for the monster's victims and want to ensure that no child's suffering is ever again missed at any institution or in any community - while I also question the knee-jerk reaction of the media, the NCAA, the Big Ten and everyone else who has piled on Penn State in assigning punishments, sanctions and blame when all the court cases are not yet completed, when all the pertinent information is not yet available and when many key people have not yet been heard.

A 10-year-old boy has been arrested and two other young boys were being sought in a home invasion robbery during which a woman was beaten and had a potted plant thrown into her face in the Juniata Park section, police said. The other boys are said to be 7 years old and 12 years old. Police responding to a call of a person screaming about 5:50 p.m. Monday found the 50-year-old victim on the 1200 block of Luzerne Street. She told police she was sleeping in her room in the rear of the residence when the boys entered and started beating her with sticks, rocks and a rope.

AFTER HEARING of the Jerry Sandusky and Philadelphia Catholic priests child-sexual-abuse cases in December, a 25-year-old man found the courage to tell police about his alleged ordeal of being sexually assaulted by his Catholic priest when he was 10 years old in 1997, Philadelphia law-enforcement officials said Friday. And the young man had quite an tale to tell against the Rev. Andrew McCormick, District Attorney Seth Williams said. "I applaud the courage of this young man," Williams said.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. - The clearest portrait of Jerry Sandusky to emerge during the trial that ended Friday night with his conviction may have been the one hardly anybody saw. It was lunchtime Monday, the defense was beginning to present its case, and the proceedings had broken for lunch. The jury had been led out of the courtroom. The attorneys were gone. All but a handful of the roughly 180 spectators and reporters had departed. That's when a few stragglers still in the courthouse annex, watching the closed-circuit TV feed from the courtroom, noticed a curious scene.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — He is alleged victim No. 4, named in the courtroom but not here. Twenty-eight years old, he wore a white shirt and dark tie. He was on the witness stand for nearly four hours. During breaks, he would cover his mouth, scratch behind his ear, knit and unknit his fingers, fidgeting, but his testimony was firm and unshaken. He buried Jerry Sandusky. Before the witness began, defense attorney Joseph Amendola pleaded with the jury to keep an open mind because he knew what was coming.