MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Sarah Volpenhein
Forum News Service
POSTED: 05/22/2015

ROSEAU, Minn. — A Catholic priest pleaded guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl while serving in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston in northwestern Minnesota.

The guilty plea comes nearly 10 years after the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, 60, assaulted the girl at his home in Greenbush, Minn.

Jeyapaul was extradited from his home country of India to the U.S. in November to face criminal charges brought in two different cases in Minnesota 9th District Court in Roseau, Minn., both alleging sexual abuse by Jeyapaul of underage female parishioners.

He had left the U.S. in September 2005 before criminal charges were filed against him and was first arrested in March 2012 in India.

Jeyapaul pleaded guilty Friday to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony, in one of the two cases. The other case, in…