ILLINOIS
The State Journal-Register
By NATHAN WOODSIDE
The State Journal-Register
LINCOLN — A man recently disciplined by the state of Illinois for unlicensed practice of clinical psychology is a former priest who also faces a criminal charge of failure to register as a sex offender.
Francis A. Benham, 74, was released from a Maryland jail in early 2006 after being convicted of sex crimes against children while serving as a priest there in the 1970s.
Benham then moved back to Lincoln, where he had lived from 1987 until 2004, after leaving the priesthood. During that time, Benham worked as a counselor for convicted sex offenders at Tazwood Mental Health Center in Pekin.
He was arrested again in February by Lincoln police on a charge of failure to register as a sex offender.
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