PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post
Pa. prosecutor reopens ‘07 fondling complaint against Roman Catholic bishop of West Virginia
By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, July 14
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities have re-opened a 2007 fondling complaint against a priest who taught at a suburban Philadelphia high school and is now the Roman Catholic bishop of West Virginia.
The complaint stems from Bishop Michael Bransfield’s days at Lansdale Catholic High School in the 1970s. The Philadelphia Archdiocese said it did not find the complaint credible at the time, and passed it on to Montgomery County authorities.
But the archdiocese said last week that the complaint has been reopened.
“The Archdiocese of Philadelphia promptly reported the allegation against Bishop Bransfield to the Montgomery County D.A.’s office in 2007. … The situation is again being reviewed by law enforcement authorities,” spokesman Kenneth Gavin said in an email.
The development comes with the recently completed Philadelphia priest-abuse trial in which a witness testified that a priest who abused him told him that Bransfield was sexually involved with a young teen. The witness also said he was raped by the priest at Bransfield’s beach house.
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