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	Ex-Priest from Sex Abuse Case Pleads Guilty in Hotel Rage Case Newsday October 24, 2007 http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--ex-priest-assault1024oct24,0,3804664.story JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) _ James T. Hanley, a former Roman Catholic priest at the center of a highly publicized sexual abuse case, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a weapons offense stemming from an angry outburst at a hotel. Hanley, 71, pleaded guilty in state Superior Court as part of a plea agreement that will likely count a year already spent in jail as time served. Hanley went to jail after missing a court date last October. In entering his plea, Hanley admitted that he used an aluminum baseball bat to threaten three employees at the Extended StayAmerica Secaucus-Meadowlands hotel in 2006. A 23-year-old desk clerk told authorities that Hanley was angered after the clerk rebuffed his sexual advances. Unshaven and walking with the help of a cane, Hanley made no statement as he was released and left court after the plea. Hanley was removed from the priesthood in 2002, 17 years after church officials learned of complaints against him. More than two dozen men who said they were abused by Hanley sued the Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese and agreed to a $5 million settlement in 2005. They claimed that church officials, including former Bishop Frank Rodimer, failed to take action to protect the youths. Hanley was not sued because he cooperated with the plaintiffs, providing a statement detailing sexual acts he engaged in with about 20 of the boys. The statement also said he admitted to Rodimer in 1984 that he had molested about a dozen boys.
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