Prosecutor: Altar girl in relationship with priest pregnant

Associated Press

Authorities are investigating whether a Roman Catholic diocese in Ohio responded appropriately last November when it learned that a priest for two of its southeast Ohio parishes had taken a now-pregnant altar girl to a wedding reception last November, Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn told The Associated Press.

Blackburn’s office on Tuesday charged the Rev. Henry Christopher Foxhoven with eight counts of sexual battery for his relationship with the girl, who is 17. He is being held on a $1 million bond and doesn’t have an attorney.

Revelations about Foxhoven’s behavior have shaken Catholics in the two small former mining towns where Foxhoven ministered, Blackburn said. The story began to unravel Oct. 26 when the 45-year-old priest and the teen told her parents she was two months pregnant. A spokesman for the Diocese of Steubenville said Foxhoven called Bishop Jeffrey Montforton the next day to tell him about the relationship.

Spokesman Dino Orsatti said a diocesan attorney immediately called the Athens County Sheriff’s Office to report what Montforton had learned. Foxhoven was ordered to move out of his parish residence at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Glouster and to stay out of that village and Buchtel, where he was pastor at St. Mary of the Hills.

The Athens County Sheriff’s Office searched the residence Monday and found used condoms and a positive pregnancy test kit.

Blackburn said his office received a call after the news broke from an out-of-town guest at last year’s wedding reception who said she saw Foxhoven inappropriately touch the girl.

The diocese sent a letter to Blackburn’s office this week saying when it learned last November about the reception, it suspended the priest for a week and ordered him to receive counseling for “boundary issues.”

The diocese did not contact authorities when it learned about the outing. Under Ohio law, institutions such as churches, schools have a duty to report allegations of physical or sexual abuse of a minor.

Blackburn’s office is investigating when sexual contact between the teen and Foxhoven began. Blackburn said that if contact occurred before she turned 16, Ohio’s age of consent, Foxhoven could face additional charges.