A former Tucson priest today was sentenced to ten years in prison for engaging in sexual acts with three teenage boys during the 1980s.
The Rev. Gary E. Underwood, a former priest at St. Odilia's Catholic Church on Tucson's Northwest Side, had been facing a mandatory prison sentence of at least nine months.
“I realize my actions have hurt others,” Underwood, 55, told the court before he was sentenced Monday afternoon.
“I abused my position and I want them to know I am truly sorry. . . . I can't undo the past. I wish I could. I give myself to the mercy of the court.”
Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Nichols told Underwood that most perpetrators in his situation would be facing a lifetime in prison, and said that he'd received a very favorable plea agreement given the nature of the charges against him.
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Underwood in May pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual conduct with a minor. There were three different victims named.
Underwood, who has not worked in the local diocese since 1988, was indicted in December 2006 on 13 counts of sexual conduct with a minor under 15.
The plea agreement dismissed seven of the counts and amended the age of the victims to “under 18.” Had Underwood gone to trial and been convicted, he was facing a life sentence because the victims were under 15.
Underwood has admitted he engaged in oral sex with two of the boys and other acts with the third.
In addition to prison time, Underwood must spend a lifetime on probation and register as a sex offender.
When indicted, Underwood was serving as a chaplain at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, La., but he has since retired.
Under diocese policy regarding allegations of child abuse, Underwood was also suspended from the priesthood.
Mayer’s office learned about the case from the diocese, which heard about accusations from a family member of one of the men who says he was abused.
Three priests who once worked in the diocese have already been sent to prison for sexual abuse - the Rev. Julían Sanz, the former pastor of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Douglas, who in 2003 was sentenced to five years for sexually abusing an 11-year-old altar boy during confession in 1982; the Rev. Juan Guillen, the former associate pastor at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Yuma, who is serving 10 years for two counts of attempted child molestation in connection with sexually abusing altar boys; and the Rev. Thomas Purcell a member of the Society of Mary religious order, who is serving 9.5 years for sexually abusing a South Tucson boy in the 1980s.
Facing a spate of potentially expensive lawsuits over the sexual abuse by priests in 2004, the diocese entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In 2005, it became the first Catholic diocese in the country to emerge from Chapter 11 and created a fund of more than $20 million for people who were sexually abused.
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