MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: PAUL WALSH and PAT PHEIFER , Star Tribune staff writers Updated: May 21, 2014
Francis Hoefgen was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly abusing the boy in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The alleged abuse began when the boy was 9 or 10 years old.
A onetime priest at a Catholic parish in Hastings was charged Wednesday with repeatedly sexually abusing an altar boy in the late 1980s and into early 1990s, acts that allegedly occurred after he was removed from a central Minnesota parish after similar behavior.
Francis Hoefgen, 63, of Columbia Heights, was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly abusing the boy from early 1989 to late 1991. Hoefgen posted bond Wednesday and was released from the Dakota County jail.
The abuse began when the victim was 9 or 10 years old years old and an altar boy at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church (formerly St. Boniface), where Hoefgen was assigned, according to the charges. …
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a national clergy sex abuse watchdog group, said in a statement released by regional director Joelle Casteix, “We applaud Hastings-area law enforcement for thoroughly investigating [Hoefgen], as well as the sex abuse and cover-up documents in his secret personnel file.”
The group added that if those allegedly abused by Hoefgen had not stepped forward, the public may have never learned the extent of the cleric’s crimes. In fact, he would probably still be working with vulnerable children.”
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