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	Ex-Priest Sentenced to 25 Years for Abuse By Laura Frank The Tennessean June 18, 1999 With his young victim looking on, former Roman Catholic priest Edward J. McKeown pleaded guilty yesterday to molesting and raping a Nashville boy, in what a prosecutor said was a pattern of abuse involving some 30 boys over more than two decades. The McKeown investigation revealed that the Nashville Diocese knew about some of the abuse allegations, but did not report them to police, Assistant District Attorney General Helen Donnelly told The Tennessean. It also led to scrutiny of two other former Nashville priests. Neither of those priests, whom authorities have not identified, has been charged with a crime. The Rev. David Perkin, Nashville Diocese chancellor and spokesman, said he could not comment specifically about how the diocese handled the McKeown situation, but added: "If the diocese ever had allegations (of sexual misconduct), it would respond immediately and appropriately." McKeown, 56, a former teacher at Father Ryan High School who left the priesthood in 1989, received a 25-year sentence for his plea of raping the boy, now 16. McKeown's lawyer, Richard McGee, said he does not believe his client is a sexual predator, but simply had a "very troubled" side. Donnelly said McKeown is the "definition of a predator" because he used his position as a priest to get close to children. McKeown served in parishes across Tennessee from 1970-89, often working with children. In addition to his duties at Father Ryan, he directed Catholic youth organizations in Nashville and Chattanooga. He later worked for the Davidson County Juvenile Court. McKeown admitted giving his victims alcohol and marijuana, "in order to take advantage of them, make them more easily coerced," Donnelly said. "That just shows how well-thought-out it was," Donnelly said. "Over a 20-year period, he abused 30 or more kids. He took advantage of his situation as a priest. At Father Ryan High School, at every place he worked, he perpetrated against kids. "The saddest thing is it took us so long to find out." Prosecutors said they investigated whether diocese officials may have violated state laws governing the reporting of sex abuse by remaining mute. But, Donnelly said, they dropped that investigation before determining if a crime had been committed because the statute of limitations already would have expired, preventing any prosecution. "The problem is, it's been a long time ago," she said. McKeown's lawyer declined to comment on Donnelly's statements, made outside the courtroom, that McKeown admitted molesting others and gave investigators a list of 21 names, dates and descriptions of the acts. Donnelly said investigators found eight or nine other people who said McKeown abused them but whose names were not on the list. Criminal charges won't be brought on behalf of the other victims, Donnelly said. Some are not eager to come forward and are satisfied with McKeown's punishment, she said. In other cases, the crimes happened so long ago they cannot be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has expired. The boy McKeown was convicted of raping sat quietly in the audience yesterday as the former priest admitted fondling him and forcing him to have oral sex. The abuse started when the boy was 12. It continued, prosecutors said, when McKeown was given temporary custody of the boy last year after the boy himself was charged with molesting a younger child. "He's very sorry," McGee said of his client. "He pleaded guilty because he didn't want to put this young man through any more pain. If that meant he spends more time in prison than he might have received with a trial, he was prepared to do that. ... He would rather die in prison than put him through a trial." Yesterday's plea agreement came after three months of negotiations with prosecutors. McGee twice asked Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier for extensions to the negotiations. McKeown was arrested Jan. 30, with help from the boy he admitted raping. The boy wore a police recording device and confronted McKeown in his home in the south Nashville neighborhood of Ransom Village. "He was very brave," Donnelly said. McKeown was indicted in February on four counts of rape, six counts of sexual battery and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. He faced up to 84 years in prison if convicted on all 12 counts, which concerned the same boy. In the end, McKeown stood before the judge his ankles chained together at the cuffs of his yellow jail jumpsuit and pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery and one count of rape. He agreed to serve eight years each for the sexual battery charges and nine years for the rape. The sentences will run one after the other, for a total of 25 years. McKeown, who would be 81 at the end of his sentence, left the courtroom without looking back at the boy. MOTHER STILL WAITING TO HAR FROM POLICE ABOUT SON'S CASE By LAURA FRANK Staff Writer A Nashville mother who believes her son was molested by Edward J. McKeown still is waiting to learn why police didn't act when she alerted them to her fears four years ago. Police contacted the woman after McKeown's Jan. 30 arrest on charges he raped another boy, but they did not explain why her allegations were never fully investigated. Since then, the woman has made phone calls and written letters to police officials, and now to the mayor, seeking an explanation. She has gotten none. She hopes McKeown's guilty plea yesterday to charges that he raped the other boy will open the way for Metro police officials to explain why their investigation of abuse against her son evaporated. "If the police had investigated my son's case then (the boy McKeown admitted raping) might have been spared," said the mother, whom The Tennessean is not identifying in order to protect the identity of her son, who is now 16. In 1995, detective Ron Carter interviewed her and her son, whose doctor said he showed signs of sexual abuse. According to the mother and a witness, Carter arranged for the mother to wear a police recording device and confront McKeown with the allegations of sexual abuse. But Carter never showed up with the recording device. Then inexplicably, the mother says, investigators quit returning her phone calls and halted their investigation of McKeown. The mother said she believes it is important for her son to receive an explanation from the police. "If we're trying to teach our children about accountability for behavior and there is no accountability in the system that is supposed to protect you, how is my son supposed to have any faith in the system?" the woman asked. The police don't have an answer for her right now, said spokesman Don Aaron. "There have been questions that she's had that we have been unable to answer at this point," Aaron said. "We intend to continue the dialogue with her. Whether we'll be able to answer all her questions, I don't know."
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