DC priest says he was ‘too busy’ to abuse parishioners

WASHINGTON – A D.C. priest convicted of sexually abusing two child parishioners is asking for mercy at his sentencing and maintaining his innocence, saying he was “too busy to do a crazy thing.”

WTOP-FM reports 47-year-old Urbano Vazquez submitted a nine-page written letter to a judge ahead of his Friday sentencing. He faces up to 45 years’ imprisonment.

The letter was submitted alongside a pre-sentencing memo in which Vazquez’s lawyer asks the judge to consider Vazquez’s years of religious service and lack of criminal history. It follows Vazquez’s life from his birth in Mexico to being ordained in Pittsburgh five years ago to his time at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, a large and predominantly Latino parish in Washington. It doesn’t mention the victims, then 9 and 13 years old.

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Information from: WTOP-FM, http://www.wtop.com