Pittsburgh-Area Priest Pleads No Contest To Indecent Assault

Pittsburgh PA

25 October, 2021

12:41 PM

Description

UNIONTOWN, PA — A Fayette County priest has pleaded no contest to repeatedly assaulting an 11-year-old altar boy beginning in 2004 and continuing for the next three years. The Rev. Andrew Kawecki pleaded to a charge of indecent assault. The plea will require him to register as a sex offender for 10 years under Megan's Law. Kawecki was charged by the state Attorney General's Office in August 2020 after a victim reported to investigators that Kawecki forced sexual encounters with the victim starting in the back room of St. Cyril and Methodius Church in Fairchance, where Kawecki prepared for services before mass. "Kawecki's plea today is a confirmation that we will always hold anyone who abuses children accountable," Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a news release. "We prosecute these cases because we have a duty to protect children, empower survivors to reclaim their own voice, and seek justice to move forward with the lives still in front of them. No coverup is too complete, no institution too powerful, to stop us from doing our job." Kawecki was identified following the release of the Grand Jury on Clergy Sexual Abuse in 2018, but was not named within the report. The report has generated more than 2,000 tips to the Attorney General's Office, including the information that led to Kawecki's plea. Be the first to know what's happening in your community and region. With a free Patch subscription, you'll always be up to date on local and state news: https://patch.com/subscribe.