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	Ex-Priest in Sex Case Is Arrested for Assault By Molly Bloom and Kasi Addison The Star-Ledger [Secaucus NJ] March 13, 2006 http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/ base/news-2/114222872280440.xml&coll=1 James T. Hanley, the defrocked priest at the center of a notorious New Jersey sex abuse case, faces assault charges following an alleged dispute with a clerk at a hotel in Secaucus. Hanley was released yesterday from Meadowlands Hospital in Secaucus, where he was taken after claiming he was injured by police during his arrest Friday. Hanley was charged by Secaucus police with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon, according to the Associated Press. The former Roman Catholic priest was staying at the Extended Stay America while arranging a move from his Paterson apartment when he got into an argument with a clerk who then called police. Hanley said the hotel manager refused to give him a room key until his bill was paid and out of frustration he smacked the desk with an aluminum bat, which he was using as a cane. When police arrived, one of the officers allegedly knocked him down with a karate kick to the left leg, which Hanley said was already injured from an earlier fall. Police said he was released because he needed medical treatment. The clerk, Osei Karikari, confirmed last night that Hanley slammed the bat on the front desk, but added that the former priest became verbally abusive after the 23-year-old rebuffed the older man's advances. Hanley offered him gifts, told him he was handsome and kissed him, Karikari said. Hanley is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Jersey City on March 22. The former priest made headlines earlier this year when he moved from an apartment at a senior citizen complex in Paterson to a larger unit in a residential neighborhood. The relocation sparked a confrontation in January with some of his victims, who were passing out fliers warning residents about their new neighbor. Hanley admitted to molesting dozens of boys, mostly at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Mendham, where he served from 1972 to 1982. The Paterson Diocese settled last year with 21 of his accusers, agreeing to pay $5 million in damages. Patricia Serrano, whose son Mark was one of Hanley's victims, helped pass out fliers in Paterson and is ready to do so again once she knows where Hanley is headed. The former priest gave notice at his McBride Avenue apartment two weeks ago but his furniture is still there, said his landlord, who did not want to give his name. Hanley was never criminally charged and isn't tracked in the state's sex offender registry, which means official notices aren't distributed to neighbors when he moves. If the state can't track him, the diocese should, Serrano said. "We are prepared to do the right thing that the diocese is not doing," she said.
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