BishopAccountability.org
	Former Catholic Priest Hanley Admits Charge of Jumping Bail By Jeff Diamant The Star-Ledger May 9, 2008 http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-10/121030782269890.xml&coll=1 James Hanley, the former Catholic priest at the center of New Jersey's worst clergy sex abuse case, pleaded guilty yesterday to a bail- jumping charge stemming from a missed court date in an assault case. The guilty plea, entered in state Superior Court in Jersey City, could end the case that originated in assault charges against Hanley after a March 2006 incident at a Se caucus hotel. Hanley, 71, pleaded guilty last October to the reduced charge of unlawful possession of a weapon. He admitted using an aluminum bat to intimidate three employees at the Extended Stay Hotel. The hotel's desk clerk had told authorities Hanley became belligerent after the 23-year-old rebuffed his sexual advances. Missing his Dec. 14 sentencing date led to the bail-jumping charge. Hanley now is expected to be sentenced May 19 to time served -- he has spent more than a year in jail awaiting trial -- and be ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. Where he will live next in unclear, said his attorney, public defender James Convery. Hanley's future whereabouts are likely to be of interest to the men he molested as children. The men have tried to monitor his movements for several years so as to alert neighbors to his past. Han ley has admitted abusing about a dozen men in Mendham and Pompton Plains between 1968 and 1982. Because of expired statutes of limitation, he was never criminally charged in those cases, and he is not subject to Megan's Law notifi cations. In 2004, the Diocese of Paterson settled lawsuits with 21 of his accusers for nearly $5 million.
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