ST. LOUIS (MO)
Belleville News-Democrat
BY JIM SALTER
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS
The St. Louis circuit attorney’s office has dismissed charges against a priest accused of sexually abusing a boy in a Catholic school bathroom, but it left open the possibility that it could refile the charges in the future.
Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce’s office released a statement Wednesday announcing the dismissal of two felony counts against the Rev. Xiuhui Jiang. He was charged last year with twice abusing a boy under the age of 14 between July 2011 and August 2012 at a school in St. Louis.
Jiang’s attorney, Paul D’Agrosa, said the allegations were false and the charges never should have been filed. He said Jiang is hopeful that the Archdiocese of St. Louis will reinstate all of his priestly privileges, which were suspended after the allegations surfaced.
A spokesman said the archdiocese will have a statement later.
The statement from Joyce’s office said charges were dismissed “for reasons that the state is unable to proceed at this time.” But it noted that the charges wouldn’t reach their statute of limitations for 35 years.
“The Office remains hopeful that charges will be refiled in the future,” the statement said. A spokeswoman for Joyce declined to comment further.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.