CHARLOTTE – The Rev. Robert Yurgel, the Catholic priest accused of molesting a 14-year-old boy in Charlotte a decade ago, is expected to plead guilty on Monday in a deal with prosecutors that will send him to prison for more than seven years.
Yurgel, 44, worked at Charlotte's St. Matthew Catholic Church in Ballantyne in the late 1990s, where the teen was an altar boy.
"It's a sad situation," Yurgel's lawyer George Laughrun said. "Father Yurgel is torn up about it, what he did. He spent his whole life trying to help people. But he crossed the line big time."
Laughrun said he expects his client to plead guilty to one sex offense Monday.
And for the first time, the priest's accuser could speak out in the courtroom.
The accuser's mother told the Observer last week that her son still suffers from what happened.
"He has continued to suffer with flashbacks, nightmares and fear …" she said. "As parents, we are still trying to come to grips and bring back a sense of peace in our lives. No parent should ever have to hear the words that their child was sexually abused. … The despair, shame, embarrassment and fear he has dealt with stole much of his normal childhood."
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