By Cindi Cook
PARIS (AA) - In a scandal that has rocked the French Catholic Church, an elderly ex-priest was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison over sexual assaulting dozens of Boy Scouts.
The trial of Bernard Preynat, 75, took place in January, and the sentence was handed down in a criminal court today, with the defendant present.
The crimes occurred between 1971 and 1991 at weekend scouting camps organized by Preynat when he served as scout chaplain in the Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon region of eastern France.
The boys involved were between ages 7 and 15 at the time of the abuse.