Minnesota Priest Sentenced for Sex Abuse Case

ROSEAU, Minn. (AP) — A Catholic priest who pleaded guilty last month to criminal sexual misconduct has been essentially sentenced to time served.

The Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in prison in connection with the 2005 abuse of a teenage girl. But he's been in custody since March 2012, and was given credit for time served. He now faces deportation to India.

As part of the plea deal, charges that he raped another girl from 2004 to 2005 are dismissed.

Jeyapaul came to Minnesota in 2004 and served at Blessed Sacrament Church in Greenbush. He returned to India in 2005 and was brought back to Minnesota last year to face charges.

Vatican officials recommended his removal from the priesthood, but he remained a priest in India.