Former DeSales Priest Sentenced in Child Sex Abuse Case

A former priest who worked at DeSales University has been sentenced to 37 months in prison after pleading guilty to accessing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced Tuesday.

William McCandless accessed “over 3,000 webpages depicting and offering child sex abuse images” in 2017, according to authorities, as well as dozens of stories that graphically described “the sexual torture of young boys.”

McCandless, a DeSales alum, worked at the university’s Wellness Center from February to October 2017, The Allentown Morning Call reported. His employment was terminated when university officials learned he was under investigation.