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	'Diocese Let School Big Slide' By Dan Mangan New York Post February 28, 2008 http://www.nypost.com/seven/02282008/news/regionalnews/diocese_let_school_big_slide_99632.htm The former principal of a prestigious Catholic high school who resigned amid allegations of inappropriate images on his work computer was allowed to stay on the job for nearly five months after a priest wrote the New York Archdiocese accusing him of serious misconduct, The Post has learned. "It's just another stall tactic," said the Rev. Robert Hoatson of the slow response by the archdiocese to his Oct. 5, 2007, letter to Cardinal Hayes HS principal Christopher Keogan. He claimed copies of the note were sent to the archdiocese, the Bronx school's superintendent and president, and prosecutors. "The church wants to minimize its damage, and they continue to cover up and coddle these people until something more dramatic comes up and then they have to make a move," Hoatson said. Brother Keogan fled from a Post reporter outside his lawyer's Manhattan office yesterday, and he and the attorney angrily refused to comment on any of Hoatson's charges. Keogan, a member of the Christian Brothers religious order who had worked at Cardinal Hayes since 1990, abruptly quit last week. The archdiocese refuses to reveal why. But a source told The Post that inappropriate images were found on his computer. The source also said that Bronx prosecutors had investigated Keogan for alleged financial misconduct, but declined to charge him because the statute of limitations had expired. Hoatson's letter to Keogan did not mention the images allegedly found on the principal's computer. But he wrote that a Cardinal Hayes dean previously was fired for "having nude images of a young friend of [Keogan] in his computer" that "allegedly was taken in [the principal's] bedroom located in the school." The letter also accused Keogan of fabricating a diploma for a close "friend" so the young man could attend college. Hoatson alleged that Keogan had been caught on school surveillance cameras rummaging through desks in a financial office and entering two offices at a time when money was stolen from that area. The letter also said Keogan kept a photo gallery in his office of enemies among the faculty and staff who have been fired, including a whistleblower who accused him of theft. Hoatson has a pending lawsuit against the archdiocese and its boss, Edward Cardinal Egan, claiming they retaliated against him over his advocacy for victims of sex abuse by priests. Contact: dan.mangan@nypost.com
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