Long Island Catholic priest suspended amid ‘credible’ child sex-abuse accusation

By Rich Schapiro
New York Daily News
May 14, 2016

http://goo.gl/VbZ3hg

The Rev. James Williams has been suspended from his priestly duties, the Marianist society said Friday.

Williams, the former president of Long Island’s prestigious Chaminade High School, was sidelined as the Marianist order investigates sex abuse claims leveled against him.

The ex-president of a prestigious Long Island Catholic high school has been suspended from serving as a priest after sex abuse allegations involving a former student were found credible.

The Rev. James Williams, who resigned from Chaminade High School in 2011, had denied the accusations that he preyed on a student that same year.

But a “vigorous, thorough and comprehensive investigation” by the Marianist order “deemed them to be credible,” the order said in a statement on the Chaminade website.

In February, the order contacted the Nassau district attorney’s office, and an investigation was launched, Newsday reported.

The victim, who was legally an adult at the time of the alleged abuse, declined to pursue criminal charges, a DA spokesman told Newsday. Even if the victim had chosen otherwise, the two-year statute of limitations for misdemeanor sexual abuse had already expired in 2013.

Attempts to reach Williams were unsuccessful.

The priest had served as president of the all-boys institution since 1999. “We believe our actions reflect the solemn promise we have made to ensure the protection of the young men entrusted to us, our highest priority,” the Marianists said.