Former Haywood County priest enters guilty plea to multiple child sexual abuse charges

HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C (WLOS) — A former Haywood County Episcopal Priest, charged with multiple counts of child sexual abuse, entered a guilty plea Monday morning.

Howard Willard White, Jr., 78, pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree forcible rape, eight counts of second-degree forcible sex offense and seven counts of indecent liberties with a child.

White was charged over a year ago in Haywood County with multiple felonies connected to the sexual abuse of multiple children over two decades.

In June 2017, White pleaded guilty to child sex charges in Massachusetts. Prosecutors said White assaulted a child during two overnight trips to Boston when the boy was 15 and 16. At the time, White worked at St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island. White, who was stripped of his priesthood by the Episcopal Church, received an 18-month sentence in that case.

White was the longtime rector of a Waynesville church, serving Grace Church from 1984 to 2006.

White was sentenced to 12 years in prison, minus just over a year for time served, and he will have to register as a sex offender.

Four of his victims were in the courtroom Monday to face White. Hear from one victim who says she does not define herself as a victim but as a survivor, tonight on News 13.