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A priest accused of abusing an altar boy in 2001 has been charged with child abuse after turning himself in to police Tuesday. The Rev. Aaron Joseph Cote, 56, who was an associate pastor in 2001 and 2002 at Mother Seton parish in Germantown, had been accused of sexual abuse by the former altar boy, Brandon Rains, who filed a lawsuit against him in 2005. Cote, who has been living in New York City, surrendered after learning that police would seek a warrant for his arrest. He pleaded not guilty. "We do expect him to be fully exonerated," said Cote's...

A Monterey diocesan priest, arrested last summer for alleged lewd conduct, has pleaded no contest to charges of having committed sex crimes. The Rev. Geronimo Enrique Cuevas, 52, will have to serve a three-year probation, pay a $750 fine, perform 40 hours of community service, and attend an AIDS education class. Undercover deputies arrested Cuevas last July at Pirate’s Cove, south of San Luis Obispo. Cuevas allegedly grabbed the crotch area of a male undercover officer. When arrested, Cuevas reportedly told deputies that he was from Las Vegas and unemployed. Though he owns an apartment in Las Vegas, Cuevas was...

A Roman Catholic priest from the Hudson Valley is going to federal prison for four years after pleading guilty to downloading child pornography. Raymond Ethier of Hudson was arrested in May 2007 for having videos and still images of minors engaged in sexual conducted on his home computer when he was the pastor of St. John Vianney.... The 51-year-old pleaded guilty in November to one count of possessing child pornography. He was sentenced Monday to 48 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release. He must also register with the state's sex offender registry and participate in a sex...

A Wigan priest has appeared in court accused of sexually abusing boys on 38 occasions. Father William Green, priest at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, New Springs, was arrested late last year over allegations dating back to the 1970s. Fr Green, 67, first appeared before Manchester magistrates last week facing six indecent assault and gross indecency charges. They relate to alleged incidents while he worked as a teacher at St Bede's School in Manchester between 1977 and 1981. Green, who now lives in Middleton, yesterday faced a further 32 similar charges dating between 1968 and 1987 involving a number of...

Pope John XXIII believed Padre Pio, the hugely popular Capuchin monk who was canonised in 2002, was a fraud who had "incorrect" relations with women and whose soul was in danger.... Sergio Luzzatto...has also found documents in the Vatican archives suggesting that Padre Pio may have faked his stigmata, the marks of the wounds of Christ, with acid. Vatican officials say both allegations are already well known.... Followers of Padre Pio believe he exuded "the odour of sanctity", had the gift of bilocation (being in two places at once), healed the sick and could prophesy the future.

Father Augusto Cortez, a priest who interacts with students at a Bushwick Catholic school has been arrested on suspicion of committing a sex crime. The 44-year-old priest, who worked at St. John the Baptist School, is charged with groping a 12-year-old student’s breast on May 29. The Diocese of Brooklyn was the first to hear of the student’s accusations, and, following a previous agreement with the Kings County district attorney, notified that office. The District Attorney’s Office has charged five priests with sex crimes since the agreement, which states that the District Attorney’s Office will keep an investigation confidential until...

A judge found catholic priest Father Frank Murd not guilty of sexual imposition today. The diocese removed Murd from Saint joseph's in Maumee in April. That's when Murd was first accused of improperly fondling another man in a hot tub. Lawyers for both sides agree Father Frank Murd fondled another man in a JCC hottub. Prosecutors could not convince judge James Jensen that the accuser clearly objected to Murd's actions. "We disagree with the judge's decision," says Mike Loisel of the Lucas County Prosecutor's office. The prosecution believes Murd knew he offended the alleged victim. "We think he knew it...

Suspended priest....several charges of misdemeanor sex crimes....probably will have to register as a sex offender.... Due to copyright complaints, go see the link at http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0613B1-update0613.html

Two men filed suit Wednesday against a former Broward County priest awaiting trial on sexual molestation charges, accusing him of paying them for sex with cash and toys when they were children. The Archdiocese of Miami knew the Rev. Neil Doherty was sexually abusing the boys in the 1980s but covered it up, according to the lawsuits filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Doherty, 65, a former pastor at St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Margate, is awaiting trial in Broward on multiple counts of sexual battery, lewd and lascivious acts and molestation in a separate case.