Priest on leave denies alleged sex abuse in 1980s

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

June 28, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

A retired Buffalo priest who was recently put on administrative leave wrote a letter this week vehemently denying that he sexually assaulted a young boy in the 1980s.

The Rev. Roy Herberger, the former pastor of SS. Columba-Brigid Church, said in the letter that he contacted a lawyer after the Diocese of Buffalo put him on administrative leave due to the abuse complaint.

“I want everyone to know that I deny these claims completely – 100 percent,” Herberger said in the letter. “I’m not saying that the victim is lying about being assaulted by some priest, a priest but I do emphatically deny that it was me.”

Diocesan spokesman George Richert declined to comment Wednesday afternoon. Herberger, reached by email on Thursday, declined to comment on the letter or on what prompted it. It’s not clear how many people received the letter, but Herberger said he sent it to relatives, friends and parishioners.

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