PHOENIX (AZ)
12 News NBC
January 9, 2020
By Mackenzie Concepcion
Jack Spaulding allegedly sexually abused boys at several parishes within the Phoenix Diocese over multiple decades.
A Maricopa County grand jury charged a former Catholic priest on Wednesday in connection with the sexual abuse of two boys under the age of 15 between 2003 and 2007.
John “Jack” Dallas Spaulding, 74, was charged with six counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of molestation of a child.
Spaulding was a priest at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Phoenix and St. Timothy’s Catholic Church in Mesa when the alleged crimes took place.
But Spaulding is accused of sexually abusing multiple other boys in the years before that. The allegations stretch back to the 1970s.
The Diocese of Phoenix said in a statement Thursday that Spaulding was placed on leave from St. Timothy Parish in June 2011 after an investigation found that an allegation of sexual misconduct against him was credible.
Spaulding was prohibited from publicly identifying himself as a priest when he was removed from the ministry.
Since he was suspended, several more similar accusations against Spaulding surfaced.
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