Man Gets Probation for Destroying Mendham Church Monument to Clergy Sex Abuse Victims

By Ben Horowitz
Star-Ledger
February 8, 2014

http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2014/02/man_gets_probation_for_destroying_mendham_church_monument_to_clergy_sex_abuse_victims.html

The monument outside St. Joseph Church in Mendham after Gordon Ellis destroyed it in 2011.

A 39-year-old Mendham man who admitted destroying a Mendham church monument to victims of clergy sexual abuse was sentenced today to two years of probation.

Gordon Ellis pleaded guilty last month to a reduced charge of criminal mischief as a disorderly persons offense, admitting that on Nov. 18, 2011, he used a sledgehammer to wreck the 400-pound millstone memorial outside St. Joseph Church.

Ellis, who has a history of mental illness, will be required to undergo mental health supervision and counseling by Morris County’s probation department and pay $7,500 in restitution to the church, under the sentence announced by Superior Court Judge Mary Gibbons Whipple in Morristown.

“There are no other things in his past that lead us to believe he will do this again,” Whipple said.

Ellis told the court he has “no excuse” for what he did, but he offered no explanation.

“I’m reluctant to say too much,” Ellis said. “I personally apologize to St. Joseph’s and the support group” for clergy sex abuse victims.

“They do a good thing and I put a black mark against that,” Ellis added.

Two representatives of Road to Recovery, an advocacy group for victims of clergy sexual abuse, attended the court session and said they were “disappointed” that Ellis did not explain his action.

“He went there with a sledgehammer,” said Kevin Waldrip of Old Bridge. “He has to know why he did it.”

The monument in Mendham has since been replaced, destroyed again in March 2013 and then replaced again. No one has been arrested in the second incident.

The original monument was dedicated in 2004 to children who suffered sexual abuse at St. Joseph's and elsewhere.

The Rev. James Hanley, a defrocked priest who admitted molesting more than a dozen children during a 24-year career, once served at the parish. The monument was installed after the 2003 suicide of James Kelly, a 37-year-old Hanley victim.