NEW LENOX (IL)
New Lenox Patch
February 19, 2018
By John Ferak
New Lenox Police told Patch on Friday that Father McGrath refused to cooperate with their investigation of him.
Father Richard McGrath, who abruptly retired in December as president of Providence Catholic High School, will not face criminal charges regarding allegations involving his cell phone, New Lenox Police Chief Bob Sterba told Patch on Friday afternoon. New Lenox Police spent the past two months investigating McGrath, 71.
The Augustinian Catholic priest had served as either the high school principal or president of Providence Catholic since the mid-1980s. In December, Providence announced McGrath’s retirement effective immediately and school officials removed all photos and biography material of Fr. McGrath from their school’s website at that time.
New Lenox’s police chief told Patch on Friday that McGrath refused to be interviewed by the New Lenox Police Department about the recent ongoing probe. McGrath also refused to provide the detectives with his cellular phone, the device that allegedly contained inappropriate images.
Patch obtained the entire 14-page police report surrounding the investigation of McGrath. According to the key events, on Dec. 8 a girl who was at a Providence High School wrestling match approached an adult affiliated with Providence Catholic. The adult told New Lenox Police how the girl “came back (and) she was visibly shaking.” The adult asked the student “what was wrong and (the student) said that she had just seen Father Richard McGrath’s phone, which he was looking at, and there was a naked boy on it,” New Lenox Police reports state.
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