Boston, Mass., Dec 14, 2022 / 12:00 pm
A former priest who served in northern Virginia pleaded guilty to charges that he sexually abused a teenage boy decades ago.
Scott A. Asalone, 65, a former priest at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Purcellville, Virginia, was arrested in Asbury Park, New Jersey, in 2020 on a felony charge of carnal knowledge of a 13- or 14-year-old child without force.
Asalone entered an Alford Plea in Loudon Circuit Court Monday and could face up to 10 years in prison at his April 13 sentencing date.
According to the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University, an Alford Plea is a guilty plea in which a defendant maintains his innocence while agreeing to accept the penalties of a guilty verdict.