An apology to the young man he sexually molested four years ago wasn’t enough to keep a former Lawrence priest out of prison.

“I don’t know why I did it, but I know the devil works overtime, and no age or stage of humanity is exempt from that temptation,” the Rev. Dennis Schmitz, 41, said Friday before being sentenced to 32 months in prison for taking indecent liberties with a child.

Douglas County District Judge Michael Malone ordered the prison sentence after listening to Schmitz’s attorney, Steve Mirakian, and a forensic psychologist say the priest needed mental health counseling instead of incarceration.

Malone recessed the hearing for about an hour to ponder the testimony before he returned and pronounced the sentence.

“I will not pretend that this is anything but a difficult decision,” Malone said.

The victim, who was 15 when the molestation occurred in the fall of 1998, was in the courtroom Friday with his father. They declined to make any statements about Schmitz. They did, however, send letters to Malone urging the judge to send Schmitz to prison.

Malone read part of the victim’s letter in court, characterizing them as “full of anger.” The young man said he found it especially difficult to go to church because of the incident.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about what he’s done,” the judge read.

Mirakian noted that several months ago Schmitz had admitted the crime to Archbishop James Keleher and the Rev. Charles McGlinn, vicar general of personnel for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

Archdiocese officials then notified the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. That investigation resulted in June charges filed in Douglas County and Nemaha County, both involving the same victim.

Under the plea agreement with the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, Assistant Dist. Atty. Ruth Ritthaler made no recommendation for Schmitz’s sentencing.

After Schmitz serves the prison sentence, he will be required to undergo 24 months of post-release supervision. He also will have to register as a sex offender.

Schmitz, who lives in Marysville, is scheduled to appear at an arraignment hearing at 11 a.m. Oct. 31 on the indecent liberties charge he faces in Nemaha County.

He lived and worked in Lawrence from the mid-1990s until July 2001, identifying and recruiting candidates for the Catholic seminary.

Schmitz also faces a civil lawsuit, filed by the victim in July. The victim is seeking damages in excess of $75,000 for physical and mental anguish. The archdiocese also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The case is pending in Douglas County District Court.

Schmitz will not be allowed to return to active ministry in the Catholic Church,according to a statement released in August by the archdiocese. Last summer Schmitz agreed to begin the process of voluntary laicization, which is a necessary step in the church to be permanently removed from the priesthood.

After the sentencing, Schmitz, who had been free on $15,000 bond, was taken by Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies to jail, where he will remain until transferred to a state prison.