Trial set to open for ex-Hastings priest accused of abuse

Winona Daily News
May 20, 2015

http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/state-and-regional/mn/trial-set-to-open-for-ex-hastings-priest-accused-of/article_5a24480f-7e3f-544c-97a8-d98fda9ad134.html

HASTINGS, Minn. (AP) — A trial is set to begin this week for a former Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting an altar boy in Hastings from 1989 to 1991.

Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/1djgvCD ) reports jury selection started Tuesday in the case of 64-year-old Francis Hoefgen. The Dakota County Attorney's Office says the selection of jury members will continue Wednesday and will be followed by opening statements, unless a plea agreement is reached.

Hoefgen is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Prosecutors say he abused the boy from the time he was about 9 to 12 years old while serving as a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Hastings.

MPR News says Hoefgen's attorney did not immediate respond to requests for comment.