A top Diocese of Charlotte official resigns after ‘credible’ sexual misconduct claim

CHARLOTTE (NC)
Charlotte Observer

March 28, 2019

By Bruce Henderson

The second in command of the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte has stepped down after a “credible allegation” of sexual misconduct involving a former adult student of Belmont Abbey College, the diocese’s newspaper reported Thursday.

Monsignor Mauricio West, the diocese’s vicar general and chancellor, has denied the allegation, the Catholic News Herald reported. Following a period of counseling and assessment, the diocese’s bishop said in a statement, West will be on a leave of absence from his ministerial duties.

The statement by Bishop Peter Jugis said West resigned Monday following a finding by the 46-county diocese’s Lay Review Board that the allegations were credible.

The events are alleged to have occurred in the mid-1980s, when West was vice president for student affairs at Belmont Abbey. They involved multiple incidents of unwanted overtures toward an adult student over a two-year period, the bishop’s statement said.

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