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  Ex-Gallup Priest Pleads Guilty to Sex Abuse

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Gallup Independent
September 9, 2004

Holbrook, Ariz.— A former Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Gallup pleaded guilty on Thursday in Navajo County Superior Court to two counts of sexual conduct with a minor.

James M. Burns, 71, of Wickenburg, Ariz. appeared before Superior Court Judge Gloria J. Kindig and signed a plea agreement. Burns had originally been charged with four Class 6 Felony counts. Kindig scheduled Burns' sentencing hearing for Sept. 16, 2004.

The charges stemmed form the sexual abuse of a teenage boy from Winslow, Ariz. that allegedly occurred between Jan. 1, 1983 and Dec. 31, 1984, while Burns was a priest in Winslow's St. Joseph Parish. Ordained in 1962, Burns had worked in numerous parishes acorss Northern Arizona for the Diocese of Gallup, which covers much of Northern Arizona and western New Mexico�

 
 

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