Cleveland Priest Suspected of Soliciting Sex Will Appear in Court Tuesday

By Cory Shaffer
Plain Dealer
October 14, 2013

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/10/cleveland_priest_suspected_of.html

[the police report] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/804616-rev-james-mcgonegal-incident-report.html

The Rev. James McGonegal, who was arrested Friday for soliciting sex in Edgewater Park, is scheduled to be arraigned in Cleveland Municipal Court Tuesday.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Rev. James McGonegal will have his initial hearing in court Tuesday on charges he solicited sex from a plain-clothes Cleveland Metroparks Ranger Friday.

Cleveland Municipal Court records show the St. Ignatius of Antioch priest will appear for his felony arraignment at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday on soliciting after a positive HIV test and driver's license suspension charges.

McGonegal was arrested in Edgewater Park Friday afternoon, after an off-duty Cleveland Metroparks ranger said McGonegal offered the ranger $50 to help him “get off,” then exposed himself and masturbated, all while sitting inside his late-model Jeep SUV. The report said McGonegal had three sex devices in his Jeep when he was arrested around 12:45 p.m.

McGonegal has been pastor at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, at Lorain Avenue and West Boulevard, since the mid-1980s. He has been a priest since 1971.

McGonegal did not attend mass at St. Ignatius this weekend.

The Cleveland Diocese officers were closed at the time of this report, but a statement released Friday said the diocese will cooperate with authorities.