Former St. Pete Catholic High School Priest Arrested on Sex Charges in Massachusetts

By Curtis Krueger
Tampa Bay Times
August 31, 2012

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/former-st-pete-catholic-high-school-priest-arrested-on-sex-charges-in/1249147

A priest who quit his teaching job at St. Petersburg Catholic High School a decade ago has been arrested in New York on child sex abuse charges.

The Rev. Richard McCormick, 71, pleaded not guilty on Friday to five counts of rape for crimes that allegedly occurred during the 1980s in Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reported.

McCormick previously had been sued by nine people who said he sexually abused them as boys.

The man known as "Father Mac" resigned from St. Pete Catholic in 2002, after a student complained that he greeted her with a hug and a kiss. She reported it the next day. This led to a school investigation, and a mutual decision for him to resign. He taught theology and English at the school.