Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick criminally charged with sexual assault of teenager

Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick criminally charged with sexual assault of teenager

By  Sarah Pulliam Bailey

The Washington Post, 

Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was criminally charged Wednesday with allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception at Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 1974, according to the Boston Globe. The charges make McCarrick, who is a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., the highest-ranking Catholic official in the country to face criminal charges for sex abuse.

McCarrick, 91, was once a highly respected Catholic leader before allegations of his behavior were made public in 2018, and he was later expelled from the priesthood. It was long assumed McCarrick would not be criminally charged, though some have filed civil lawsuits in New York and New Jersey, alleging McCarrick sexually abused them in those states when they were children.

According to the Globe, which broke the story on Thursday, McCarrick can be criminally charged with alleged assaults at Wellesley because he was not a Massachusetts resident and the statute of limitations stopped when he left the state. At the time of the alleged incident, McCarrick lived in the rectory attached to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, the Globe reports.

On Wednesday, McCarrick was charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 in a criminal complaint filed by Wellesley Police in Dedham District Court and obtained by the Globe.

In 2019, the Vatican defrocked McCarrick after finding him guilty of sexual abuse, delivering him the most significant abuse-related punishment for a former cardinal in modern Catholic history. Once a major power broker within the church who received accolades, his downfall was considered swift and severe.

In the past, McCarrick has been accused of sexually abusing minors and harassing adult seminarians, but many assumed he would not face criminal charges because the allegations that have been made public relate to crimes that would be beyond statutes of limitations where the incidents were said to have taken place and would make it impossible to prosecute.

A summons orders McCarrick, now living in Missouri, to appear at the court in Dedham, Mass. on Aug. 26. McCarrick’s attorney, Washington D.C.- based Barry Coburn, said, “We will look forward to addressing this issue in the courtroom” and declined to comment further.

Mitchell Garabedian, a well-known lawyer for church sexual abuse victims who is representing the man alleging the abuse by McCarrick, said he could not discuss specific details of the case. “By coming forward, my client is empowering other victims and making the world a safer place for children,” Garabedian said.