Charges Filed Against Former Priest Accused of Abusing Altar Boy

By Jennie Olson
KAAL
May 21, 2014

http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/S3444974.shtml?cat=10151

A former Catholic priest has been charged in Dakota County with sexually abusing an altar boy from 1989 to 1991.
    
County Attorney James Backstrom said Wednesday that 63-year-old Francis Hoefgen has been charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Hoefgen is accused of abusing the boy at St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton Catholic Church in Hastings when the child was 9 to 12 years of age.
    
Hoefgen's attorney, Andy Small, declined comment.
    
Hoefgen is the subject of a lawsuit by a Minnesota man who claims he was sexually abused by the priest from 1989 to 1992. The lawsuit says the Twin Cities archdiocese should have known Hoefgen was a danger because he admitted abusing a teenage boy a few years earlier.

Backstrom and Hastings Police Chief Bryan Schafer will discuss the charges at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.