MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times
David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com May 20, 2015
HASTINGS – A former altar boy at a Hastings church is expected to testify Thursday at the trial of a former St. John’s Abbey monk and priest who is accused of sexually abusing the boy more than 25 years ago.
Fran Hoefgen, 64, is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Dakota County, where Hoefgen was assigned as a priest by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The abuse is alleged to have occurred between March 1989 and April 1992, after the boy moved to Hastings when his parents split up, Assistant Dakota County Attorney Paul Beaumaster told jurors Wednesday during his opening statement.
Beaumaster called Hoefgen a “good parish priest” who helped the boy deal with his family issues and other problems. But Beaumaster said Hoefgen took advantage of that and abused the boy beginning when he was in the fourth grade.
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