Former Franciscan friar convicted of 1990s child sex abuse

GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — A former Franciscan friar has been convicted of sexually abusing a grade school student during the 1990s at a Catholic school in Mississippi. A Leflore County jury deliberated less than an hour Wednesday before finding 62-year-old Paul West guilty of one count of sexual battery and one count of gratification of lust. West was accused of abusing a former student who is now 39. Circuit Judge Ashley Hines sentenced West to 30 years on the first count and 15 years on the second. As first reported by The Associated Press in 2019, two cousins accused West of repeated sexual abuse while they were students at St. Francis of Assisi School.