WILMINGTON (DE)
Clerical Whispers [Upper Silesia, Poland]
April 11, 2026
By CW Team
Some of the child sex abuse charges against a former priest at a now-shuttered Wilmington Catholic school were dismissed earlier this year.
The ruling dismisses two charges, but several others remain against John Taggart, who is accused of repeatedly abusing a child during and after the victim’s seventh and eighth grade years at the former St. Thomas the Apostle School and rectory. Taggart was a priest there for years.
Last year, the 80-year-old was indicted on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, two counts of dangerous crime against a child, two counts of third-degree unlawful sexual penetration, four counts of first-degree unlawful sexual intercourse and second-degree unlawful sexual contact.
His case is now moving forward with the dangerous crime against a child charges dismissed after a local judge ruled that those charges are too old to apply and violated constitutional provisions dealing with laws written after criminal conduct occurred.
His attorney did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The allegations against former priest John Taggart
St. Thomas the Apostle School, formerly located in the 200 block of Bayard Ave., closed in 2008 after 105 years.
Taggart was a priest at St. Thomas the Apostle from 1987 to 1998 before holding positions at St. John the Apostle in Milford in 1999 and then went to St. Helena’s in the Penny Hill area in January 2001. He resigned from active ministry in 2004 and now lives in Georgia.
The investigation into his conduct began in June 2022 when an anonymous tip was filed with the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington. The complaining witness then provided a statement to police in 2023 and Taggart was indicted in 2025.
The investigation found that Taggart repeatedly abused a victim during their seventh and eighth grade years at St. Thomas, and continued after the victim left St. Thomas and began high school, according to the state Department of Justice.
The investigation also uncovered abuse claims about Christopher Crisona, who was a teacher at St. Thomas for the 1994-1995 school year and part of the 1995-1996 school year, according to prosecutors. Charges against him also remain pending. Crisona’s case is set for trial in November.
Court dismissal of some charges against John Taggart
After Taggart was indicted, John Liguori, his defense attorney, filed a motion to dismiss all the charges on several grounds. He argued that the allegations were based solely on memories recovered through psychotherapy, which the law states cannot be the sole basis for bringing such a case. Part of Liguori’s arguments were mental health records passed along by investigators as part of evidence sharing in the case.
However, in denying that request, the judge said that alone does not create a presumption that the memories were recovered through therapy and the court doesn’t know the full content of the evidence against Taggart.
The defense succeeded in getting two charges disqualified. The first was one charge of dangerous crimes against a child, a crime the legislature put into effect in June 1995. The conduct that led to that charge for Taggart predated that by two months, so it was dismissed.
Another charge of the same crime, but for later dates was also dismissed after the judge ruled that legislative changes to extend the statute of limitations for reporting sex crimes did not specifically include that charge.
Those charges essentially ramp up the potential sentence for Taggart if convicted, though he still potentially faces what would be an effective life-sentence if convicted.
His case is set for trial in September.
In a related matter, the Delaware General Assembly has a bill pending that would remove the statute of limitations for child sex abuse survivors to bring civil litigation against their abuser.