MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: ERIN ADLER and JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune staff writers Updated: September 5, 2014
Francis Hoefgen, 64, is accused of abusing an altar boy multiple times at a Hastings parish.
A priest accused of repeatedly raping a Hastings altar boy in the late 1980s and early ’90s pleaded not guilty in a Dakota County courtroom Friday.
Francis Hoefgen, 64, who has left the priesthood and now lives in Columbia Heights, wore street clothes and appeared subdued during the court appearance. He waived his right to a speedy trial.
Dakota County District Court Judge Thomas Pugh set a trial date of May 18 and granted Hoefgen permission to take an out-of-state trip at the end of the month.
Hoefgen was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. According to the criminal complaint, Hoefgen abused the 10-year-old boy repeatedly at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Hastings between 1989 and 1992.
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