Mendham Man Admits Destroying Sex Abuse Monument

By Jason Koestenblatt
The Patch
January 15, 2014

http://mendham-chester.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/mendham-man-admits-destroying-sex-abuse-monument

More than two years after a monument dedicated to victims of clergy sex abuse was destroyed, a Mendham man pleaded guilty to the crime.

Gordon Ellis, 39, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of criminal mischief as a disorderly persons offense on Wednesday in Superior Court in Morristown, according to nj.com.

Third-degree criminal mischief and desecrating religious or sectarian premises were the original charges filed against Ellis, the report said.

Under the plea agreement, in which Ellis admitted taking a sledgehammer to the 400-lb. monument outside St. Joseph Church in Mendham, the man must pay $7,500 in restitution and will be given probation with no jail time, the report said.

The monument was destroyed on Nov. 18, 2011. Ellis will be sentenced Feb. 7. Ellis is also known to have psychiatric problems, and his lawyer, at one point, considered a mental health defense, the report said.

The monument was created in 2004 and dedicated to children who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of clergy both at St. Joseph and other houses of worship.

In March 2013, the monument was again defaced. Ellis has not been linked to that incident. The monument was then rededicated in April 2013.