PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A former FBI agent who investigated clergy sex abuse for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia concluded that a Bucks County man was telling the truth when he said the Rev. James J. Brennan tried to rape him when he was 14.
Testifying Monday at Brennan’s trial, the investigator, Jack Rossiter, said the priest consistently denied any “intentional” sexual contact with the teen.
But during three interviews with Rossiter a decade after the alleged 1996 assault at a West Chester townhouse, Brennan gave conflicting statements on why he had shared his bed with the boy, how long their visit lasted and his ties to another young man, Rossiter said.
In the end, Rossiter gave church officials a report that supported the accuser’s account. “It indicated I believed him,” Rossiter told the Common Pleas Court jury.
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