WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer
November 28, 2018
A priest who served several areas of East Ohio now will serve 12 years in jail for sexual battery after he impregnated a 17-year-old girl.
Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said the Rev. Henry Christopher Foxhoven, 45, of Glouster, pleaded guilty to three sexual battery counts. As part of his sentence, Foxhoven must register as a sex offender.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville suspended Foxhoven in October. The diocese said Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton took that action as soon as he learned Foxhoven had admitted to the offense.
Blackburn said the teen was an altar girl in one of Foxhoven’s parishes in the diocese and Foxhoven engaged in sexual conduct with her between Aug. 17 and Oct. 25.
Blackburn previously said Foxhoven “groomed” the girl.
“He took her at a young age and used religion to the point where she fell in love with him,” he said.
Blackburn has said the Diocese of Steubenville appropriately turned the case over to authorities when Foxhoven came to Monforton to tell him about the pregnancy. However, the diocese did not report an incident that led to a weeklong suspension in November 2017. He reportedly had been inappropriately touching the same girl during a wedding reception.
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