ILLINOIS
State Journal-Register
By JAMES WASHBURN
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
Published Saturday, January 21, 2006
LINCOLN - Francis Benham, who most recently resided in Lincoln, will be freed Sunday after serving almost a year behind bars for sexual offenses he committed nearly three decades ago while a Catholic priest in Prince George's County, Md.
With permission from officials in Maryland and Illinois, Benham, now 69, could return to Lincoln, where he lived from 1987 until 2004.
But the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is rallying its members to persuade officials in Illinois and Maryland, where the former priest is imprisoned, to halt Benham's return.
SNAP members from four states have sent a letter to Illinois Corrections Director Roger Walker and Walker's counterpart in Maryland, Mary Ann Saar.