STOCKTON (CA)
News10
[with video]
Written by
C. Johnson
STOCKTON, CA – A Diocese of Stockton priest recently found guilty of three counts of child molestation and under investigation for a separate alleged similar crime has gone back to Ireland.
Father Michael Kelly, who served at St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford, was found liable in a civil trial on April 6 of three counts of child sex abuse involving a former altar boy at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton in the mid-1980s.
With the judgment, Kelly, who had continued to serve at St. Joachim Catholic Parish in Lockeford, was removed from his duties by Stockton Bishop Stephen E. Blaire.
Anttorney Rebecca Rhoads, who represents the now 37year old altar boy Kelly was found to have molested said she is not sure how the second half of the civil trial will proceed.
“The jury in this case returned a verdict against Father Kelly on all claims, essentially finding that Father Kelly viciously sexually abused my client,” said Rhoads, adding, “he’s just running away.”
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