By Kelly Price
CBS 4
November 10, 2010
http://cbs4.com/local/neil.doherty.priest.2.2004646.html
 |
| Neil Doherty Palm Beach Sheriff's Office |
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - A retired South Florida priest accused of drugging and raping young boys will remain behind bars after violating probation.
Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes ordered Neil Doherty, 67, back to prison after a psychological evaluation showed he is competent to stand trial, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Doherty was arrested earlier this month after his GPS monitor reportedly showed he left his home in Lake Worth for 17 minutes in October, which is a violation of his house arrest.
The Broward Sheriff's Office says Doherty told officers he was attending a funeral at the time.
At a hearing on Monday, prosecutors said Doherty also went unaccounted for at least eight other times.
"Mr. Doherty has shown that he cannot comply with orders of the court and he comes back with bogus explanations," Holmes said. "I cannot set a bond for a person who consistently and on a regular basis violates court orders."
Doherty has been on house arrest monitoring since 2006 while he awaits trial on charges he repeatedly drugged and raped a boy for seven years in the 1990s. The boy was seven years old at the time. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
Doherty was a former priest at St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Margate.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.