DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A Detroit-area Catholic priest has been sentenced to 45 days in jail for assaulting a younger man who went to him for counseling.
The victim told a judge Wednesday that he approached the Rev. Patrick Casey in Westland in 2013 because he "needed a shepherd" but that the priest didn't help him.
Casey is accused of engaging taking advantage of the 24-year-old man, who was struggling with homosexuality and his faith, and was suicidal.
According to the criminal complait: "As John Doe (the victim) spoke about his struggles with suicide and his concern about dying in mortal sin, Casey, who was dressed in black clerical garb, steered the conversation towards sex, telling him that he could not have a gay relationship and go to heaven. Casey told John Doe that he was also gay and shared a suicidal story of his own. During this confession, Casey approached John Doe and told him to stand up."
It's alleged that Casey then touched the victim sexually, and the two engaged in various sex acts.
The 55-year-old, who was a priest at St. Theodore of Canterbury Parish in Westland, was arrested in Oak Park back in May.
Casey pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in October after a jury said it was having trouble reaching a unanimous verdict on a felony criminal sexual conduct charge.
He was one of five current and former priests charged as a Michigan Attorney General's investigative team reviews hundreds of thousands of pages of documents seized from the dioceses last October.
Separately, in western Michigan, the Rev. Brian Stanley pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted false imprisonment. Stanley was accused of wrapping a teen boy in bubble wrap and tape in a janitor's room in 2013.
Investigators have been following up on hundreds of tips that have been called into the AG's clergy abuse hotline since the beginning of the year. As the investigation continues, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said she expected many more charges to come as there could be hundreds, possibly thousands, of alleged victims of clergy abuse across the state.
Nessel urges anyone who was abused by clergy, or who has information about abuse to call the tip line at 844-324-3374.
