Warning: this post details sexual assault and may be triggering for some readers.
A Catholic priest has been charged with sexual battery after he allegedly got a 17 year-old altar girl pregnant.
Father Henry Christopher Foxhoven, 45, faces eight counts of the crime after telling his local bishop in Cleveland, Ohio, about his relationship with the teen, it is claimed.
That prompted Athens County Sheriff Rodney Smith to order a search of the priest’s home Monday.
Father Henry Christopher Foxhoven has been charged with getting a 17 year-old altar girl pregnant (Picture: Atlas County Sheriff’s Office)
Sheriff Smith said his deputies found ‘evidence of criminal activity, such as several used condoms and a used pregnancy test with a positive indication.’
Foxhaven and the girl, who has not been identified, are said to have told her parents on October 26 that she was two months pregnant, with Catholic church officials being informed the next day.
Cops are now investigating claims that Foxhoven and the girl attended a wedding reception together last November.
Bosses at the Steubenville Diocese, where the priest preached, are said to have known about that incident, but failed to inform police of any concerns.
They have now banned Foxhaven from all of their parish buildings, and from performing any of his priestly duties.
Foxhoven worked as a priest at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Gloucester, Ohio, which his alleged victim also attended (Picture: Steubenville Diocese)
Although the girl is older than the age of consent in Ohio – 16 – she is still classes as a minor.
Catholic priests must take a vow of celibacy, and are forbidden from having sexual relationships, or getting married.
- Foxhaven is being held on $1,000,000 bond and is due in court for a preliminary hearing on November 29.
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