- Cardinal Theodore McCarrick faces three counts of indecency and assault.
- Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
- McCarrick was released on bail of $5,000 and was ordered not to contact his alleged victims or children.
Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick pleaded not guilty to the charge of molesting a 16-year-old boy in 1974, a case that made him prosecuted for sexually abusing a minor The highest-ranking American Catholic official.
McCarrick, 91, is a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., wearing a mask, hunched over when entering the courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts, walked past a TV camera and a demonstrator shouted “What a shame.” .
He didn’t say anything because the court represented him in a plea of innocence against the three counts of indecency and assault filed in July. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The bail was $5,000, and McCarrick, who now lives in Dittmer, Missouri, was ordered not to contact his alleged victims or children. His lawyer declined to comment. McCarrick said he did not remember child abuse.
McCarrick is the only American Catholic cardinal facing allegations of child sexual abuse. He was expelled from a Roman Catholic priest in 2019 after a Vatican investigation found that he had committed sexual crimes against minors and adults.
A Vatican report in November 2020 found that despite rumors of sexual misconduct, McCarrick was promoted in the church, and Pope John Paul II promoted him despite the allegations.
Although McCarrick faced lawsuits from men accusing him of sexual abuse decades ago, the statute of limitations for criminal charges in these cases has expired.
But after non-resident McCarrick left Massachusetts, a legal quirk froze the statute of limitations in the Massachusetts case. Survivors of sexual abuse welcomed the rare prosecution.
Susan Renehan, 73, said: “Many children have lost their lives and their innocence.” “No one in the Catholic Church seems to care.”
McCarrick’s alleged victim lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, stated that the case “is sending a direct message to the Catholic Church that the sexual abuse rule of its bishop and cardinal will face a frontal challenge. .”
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According to court records, the alleged victim stated that McCarrick was his family and friend, and he began harassing him when he was a boy in New York, California, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
The man told the police that on June 8, 1974, at his brother’s wedding reception at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, McCarrick told him that his father wanted the two of them to talk about his misconduct.
The man told the authorities that McCarrick fumbled with him as he walked around the campus, then led him to a small room like a closet, and petted him while praying.
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