VAN NUYS : Priest Given 8-Year Term for Molestation

Calling the defendant “a predator,” a Superior Court judge ignored pleas for mercy this week and sentenced a Roman Catholic priest to eight years in state prison for molesting four children.

Superior Court Judge Howard J. Schwab gave the stiff sentence to Father Richard Allen Henry. “I feel very sad about what I’m doing today, but I have no choice given the facts of the case,” Schwab said.

Henry, 47, pleaded guilty in December, 1991, to committing sex acts with four boys who were members of his parish, Holy Redeemer Church in Montrose. The victims, all members of the same household, were attacked over a six-year period that ended in 1991.