John Geoghan
John Geoghan ( June 4, 1935 - August 23, 2003 ) was an American pastor who was a key figure in the sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.
Indications of Geoghan's pedagogical criminal behavior led to the transfer by the Church to other parishes, most recently by the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston , Bernard Francis Law . Law later had to resign.
Geoghan's actions became public in 2001 and drew the attention of the Boston Globe . Investigative journalists for the newspaper uncovered thousands of child abuse by Catholic priests and were able to prove that high-ranking members of the church hierarchy not only knew about the acts, but actively covered them up.
During his thirty-year career in six communities, Geoghan is believed to have sexually abused more than 130 children.
Geoghan was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2002. While in custody at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley , Massachusetts, Geoghan was strangled in August 2003 by a fellow inmate named Joseph Druce. The recording of a surveillance camera, which shows the officers trying to open the cell door, later became public. The act had been planned by the perpetrator for a long time.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Millions for abuse victims. US Church is buying itself free. In: n-tv.de , July 16, 2007 ( online )
- ^ Long Planning Cited in Death of an Ex-Priest. In: New York Times , August 26, 2003 ( online )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Geoghan, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American pastor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 4, 1935 |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 23, 2003 |