Priest Accused of Molesting Girl Is 1st Arrest by NJ Clergy Task Force

By Erin Vogt
New Jersey 101.5
January 17, 2019

http://nj1015.com/priest-accused-of-molesting-girl-is-1st-arrest-by-nj-clergy-task-force/

A Catholic priest who lives in Warren County has been arrested and charged with multiple criminal counts in the sexual assault of a teen girl over several years at his former church in Woodbridge.

Thomas P. Ganley, 63, of Phillipsburg, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault.

Ganley was a priest at St. Cecelia Church in the Iselin section when the criminal acts occurred from 1990 through 1994, prosecutors said.

He has been working at St. Philip & St. James Church in Phillipsburg.

Ganley was ordained in 1985 by then-Bishop of Metuchen Theodore McCarrick, who last year was removed from his position as cardinal after he was accused of molesting boys decades earlier.

Father Thomas Ganley in undated photos. On left via the St. Philip & St. James Church website. On right from his personal page at www.angelfire.com/nj3/padretom

This is the first arrest by the Clergy Abuse Task Force since it was put together in September 2018 by state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal. It was created in response to a report by a Pennsylvania grand jury that outlined allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests against more than 1,000 victims in that state after a multi-year investigation. Some of those priests had worked in New Jersey and were accused of abusing victims here.

More than 350 calls have been received to date through the Clergy Abuse Hotline at 855-363-6548. It is staffed by trained professionals and operated on a 24/7 basis.

Anyone with information on this case or any potential other victims is asked to call the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at 732-745-4499 or 732-745-3711.

Ganley is being held at the Middlesex County jail in North Brunswick pending a detention hearing set for Friday.

New Jersey 101.5 did not know Thursday whether Ganley had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.