ALLENTOWN (PA) and HARRISBURG (PA)
AP/WTXF
August 21 2018
A Roman Catholic priest was charged on Tuesday with groping a 17-year-old girl and sending her nude images of himself, just a week after a grand jury reported the church had covered up decades of child molestation by priests across the state.
The charges of felony corruption of minors and misdemeanor indecent assault against 30-year-old Kevin Lonergan were not a result of the landmark grand jury investigation but stemmed from a complaint filed in June, after the grand jury had finished its work, authorities said.
This is at least the second case of possible priest abuse being investigated in the Allentown Diocese since the grand jury finished its report, which identified 301 “predator priests” in a half-dozen Pennsylvania dioceses, including 37 in Allentown, going back to the 1940s.
“I think it’s horrible. I think it’s putting a dark cloud on the Catholic faith,” said parionisher Janel Herman reacting to the charges against Lonergan. “I probably wouldn’t trust my child alone with a priest. Not probably, I wouldn’t, unfortunately. But I do know of some good ones that are probably being tarnished because of it.”
The priest first met the 17-year-old girl before Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Church also in Allentown. Shortly after meeting her, Lonergan obtained her cell phone number from other members of the church. Investigators say Lonergan had used social media apps such as Snapchat to contact the victim.
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