CHELSEA (MA)
News Channel 10
POSTED: 2:51 pm EST February 17, 2005
UPDATED: 3:11 pm EST February 17, 2005
CHELSEA, Mass. -- A Catholic priest pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he propositioned a 12-year-old girl and her mother in a Chelsea restaurant.
The Rev. Jerome Gillespie resigned as pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church shortly after the alleged incident last month. Some of his former parishioners were on hand to support the priest at his arraignment in Chelsea District Court.
Gillespie is charged with one count of enticement of a child under age 16, two counts of assault, offering to pay for sex and accosting or annoying another person.