STOCKTON (CA)
Fox 40
Ian McDonald
FOX40 News
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY—
Father Michael Kelly, a Catholic priest from Lockford, has left the county in the middle of a civil trial over molestation accusations, according to Bishop Stephen Blaire.
“This afternoon, I was stunned to receive a letter from Fr. Michael Kelly informing me he had returned to Ireland in the midst of the civil trial in which he is a defendant,” said Bishop Blaire, in a written statement.
In Kelly’s letter, he says the accusations have taken a physical and mental toll.
“I have sat back and listened to the vicious false allegations that have been spread about me for the past 4 ½ years, and my health has suffered greatly because of it,” Kelly writes. “I am mentally and physically spent. The stress of it all is causing my health to decline daily.”
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