Fr. Edward J. Kelley
Arrested in 5/21 in SC for the alleged sexual assault of a boy in 1983 in North Smithfield RI. In 7/21 Kelley was reportedly being held at Eleanor Slater Hospital in RI, where he was to be evaluated. Kelley’s accuser said he lived in rectories with Kelley as a boy in the 1980s, that it had been reported to diocesan officials, but that he continued living with Kelley. Further, he said another boy who was “close” to Kelley as a boy died by suicide in adulthood. Kelley resigned from St. Aidan’s in Cumberland in 1992 because of “divisiveness” in the parish over his “leadership style.” He left RI in 1993 and became a US Army chaplain. He was removed from ministry in Charleston SC in 2015 due to a relationship with an adult woman. Ruled incompetent to stand trial in 2/22, due to advanced dementia.
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