Diocese reopens priest-abuse allegations first raised in 1998

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
Bakersfield.com

May 20, 2019

By John Cox

Decades after the allegations first came to light, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno is revisiting accusations Bakersfield priest Craig Harrison inappropriately touched a teenager while working at St. Joseph Church in Firebaugh in the 1990s.

“It is under review,” diocese spokeswoman Teresa Dominguez said Monday. She declined to elaborate other than to confirm the accuracy of a report by KQED Inc., a Northern California media group, about the case.

The allegations by an unnamed individual were initially reported to the Firebaugh Police Department in 1998. They were brought to the diocese in 2002 and dismissed as unsubstantiated.

Harrison’s attorney, Kyle J. Humphrey, rejected the allegations as opportunistic and false.

“No matter how many times that you try to pretend that the world is flat,” he said, “you’re wrong.”

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