BishopAccountability.org
	Crime Roundup: Former Fox Valley Priest Released from Prison after Molesting Two Altar Boys Pierce County Herald November 11, 2011 http://www.piercecountyherald.com/event/article/id/40759/ A former Fox Valley priest convicted of molesting two altar boys has been released from prison after serving eight years of a 15-year sentence. State prison officials said 84-year-old John Patrick Feeney reached his mandatory release date on November first. And he's now at a halfway house in Appleton. Feeney was convicted of four charges resulting from sexual assaults of Todd and Troy Merryfield in 1978, when Feeney was the priest at Saint Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom and the victims were 14 and 12. The criminal case only proceeded because Feeney had moved to California -- which ended his statute-of-limitations in the Badger State. Meanwhile, the Merryfields still have a civil lawsuit pending against the Green Bay Catholic Diocese. It contends that the church was liable because it moved Feeney to 14 parishes in the Green Bay Diocese without telling parishioners about his background. A two-week jury trial in that case is set to begin May 14th. Feeney was removed from most of his church duties in 1986, and was de-frocked 19 years later.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.