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	Fla. Judge Grants Bond to Priest Charged with Sexual Abuse Local 6 March 21, 2006 http://www.local6.com/news/8158048/detail.html Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — A Broward judge has granted bond to a retired Roman Catholic priest charged with sexually abusing a young boy. Neil Doherty can be released on $70,000 bond, Broward Circuit Judge Susan Lebow ruled Monday. Doherty must surrender his passport, cannot have contact with the alleged victim or with children younger than 18 and must wear an electronic monitoring device. The former priest at St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Margate was arrested in January on eight counts of sexual battery, lewd and lascivious acts and molestation. He was denied bail a day after he was arrested at a Fort Lauderdale hotel. Lebow said there was not adequate evidence to keep Doherty in jail. "The defendant is a major threat to the community, especially to young people," said prosecutor Dennis Siegel. "He has a lengthy history." Doherty's sisters said they would pay the bond, but he remained in jail early Tuesday morning. While at the Margate parish, the priest allegedly drugged and raped the alleged victim over a five-year period beginning in 1996, deputies said. A telephone message left early Tuesday for the alleged victim's attorney, Jeffrey Herman, was not immediately returned.
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