RHODE ISLAND
Crux
AP
A former priest of the Providence, Rhode Island, diocese, who was arrested on sexual assault charges in 2014 and laicized, meaning removed from the priesthood, in 2015, has died of a heart attack before he could face trial.
PROVIDENCE – A former Roman Catholic priest awaiting trial on sexual assault charges has died.
The Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office says Barry Meehan died of a heart attack on December 8. He was 67.
Meehan pleaded not guilty in 2014 to five counts of first-degree sexual assault on two young men in the late 1980s and early 1990s while Meehan was a priest at parishes in Providence and Cranston.
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