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  Case against Priest Who Allegedly Made Lewd Comments Continued

The Associated Press, carried in Dateline Alabama [Boston MA]
April 5, 2005

The charges against a Roman Catholic priest who allegedly sexually propositioned a 12-year-old girl and her mother at a Chelsea restaurant will be dismissed if he meets the conditions of a two-year probationary period.

The case against the Rev. Jerome F. Gillespie, who resigned as pastor of St. John the Evangelist parish in Swampscott after the Jan. 25 incident, was continued without a finding on Monday in Chelsea District Court.

As part of Gillespie's agreeing to sufficient facts, he must complete substance abuse, mental health, and sex offender evaluations, and cannot have contact with children under age 18 without notifying their parents about his case.

If Gillespie, 55, does not meet those conditions, the case will be put back on track for trial, prosecutors said.

Gillespie and a friend were dining at an Italian restaurant when he allegedly asked the girl at an adjacent table to perform sex acts, authorities said. When the girl and her mother moved to another table, he allegedly repeated his requests to the mother.

Gillespie was not dressed as a priest and the alleged victims did not know he was a priest. There was no physical contact.

The girl's mother told restaurant management, who told police. Gillespie was charged with enticing a child under 16, soliciting sex for a fee, and annoying or accosting a person of the opposite sex.

Gillespie may have been drunk at the time of the incident, prosecutors said.

 
 

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