Credit: LevittownNow.com
After serving four years and sixth months behind bars, a former Levittown Catholic school teacher who was accused of raping a child will be released from prison.
Philly.com reported Wednesday that former teacher Bernard Shero, 54, was released from prison as part of a deal struck between the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and Shero. As part of the deal to be released, the former Levittown man had to plead guilty to lesser charges.
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The man who accused Shero and others of sexually abusing him as a boy admitted to a detective on the case that he made up the allegations that led to Shero ending up in prison, BigTrial.com reported.
The trial-focused new website reported Shero could be released from State Correctional Institution Houtzdale in rural Clearfield County as soon as Thursday.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said Shero was found guilty of rape, indecent sexual assault and other offenses in 2013. He was sentenced at the time to eight to 16 years in prison followed by five years of reporting probation.
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Attorney George Bochetto, one of Shero’s lawyers, told Philly.com that he was “deeply, deeply concerned with the way the prosecution took place in this matter.”
An article published by the Bucks County Courier Times noted that Shero previously worked at the Immaculate Conception in Bristol Township, St. Joseph the Worker in Falls Township, St. Michael the Archangel in Tullytown, St. Thomas Aquinas in Bristol Township and Queen of the Universe in Middletown. He also worked in Philadelphia.
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At the time of sentencing, Shero professed his innocence and launched a failed bid for a new trial in 2015.
