HOMER, NY (607NewsNow) – A priest has pled guilty to endangering the welfare of a child in Homer Town Court.

On December 17, Nathan Brooks admitted to sending inappropriate text messages to a person under the age of 17 throughout 2020 and 2021. Cortland County District Attorney Patrick Perfetti said in a statement that because of Brooks’ lack of criminal history, he was sentenced to probation supervision, which will include counseling and a full stay-away order of protection.

Brooks, ordained in 2019 at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Syracuse, was also accused of inappropriately touching the same victim on a church-sponsored bus trip and had pending charges in the City of Cortland. However, prosecutors say the trip originated in Dewitt, Onondaga County, and was ultimately outside Cortland County’s legal authority to prosecute.

According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, the charges against Brooks were brought forth by the victim upon turning 18.