Texas Priest Sentenced to Life in Prison for Altar Boy Assaults

Suspended Roman Catholic priest Rudolph Kos was sentenced Wednesday to the maximum of life in prison for sexually assaulting altar boys in hundreds of attacks that earlier produced a record monetary judgment against the Dallas diocese.

Kos, 52, was convicted Saturday on three counts of aggravated sexual assault. In addition to the sentence of life imprisonment on each of those counts, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on one count of indecency with a child.

Kos also was sentenced to 20-year terms on each of three other charges to which he pleaded guilty at the start of the trial. He also must pay $10,000 in fines for each of the seven counts.

Four victims told police that they were molested a total of about 1,350 times over five years.

Under parole guidelines in effect at the time the crimes were committed, Kos will be eligible to seek parole in 15 years. He could have been sentenced to probation because he has not previously been convicted of a felony.

At least one victim said he would fight against ever granting Kos parole.

Another accuser, Robert Hultz, said: “I hope I can finally put this chapter of my life behind me now and move forward.”

Kos was “disappointed and emotionally upset” at the sentence, said his attorney, Brad Lollar.

Last year, allegations against Kos led to a record $119.6-million civil judgment against him and the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. Witnesses testified during an 11-week trial that Kos sexually abused boys from 1981 to 1992 at three Dallas-area churches.

Three of the plaintiffs in that case were accusers in the criminal case.