Prosecutor: Cincinnati priest indicted on 9 counts of rape in decades-old altar boy abuse case
CINCINNATI — Felony rape accusations were made against a Cincinnati Catholic priest Monday. Investigators harbor a strong belief there could be more victims than the one who has come forward.
They announced an indictment Monday that says Geoffrey Drew allegedly raped a young boy at St. Jude School 15 years before he became a priest. The boy was working as an altar boy at the time.
According to the nine-count indictment, the offenses took place in Drew's office either during or right after the school day. When last month's removal of Drew as pastor at St. Ignatius occurred, the victim, who is now 41, said he felt he needed to end three decades of silence about it. Prosecutor Joe Deters described him as courageous and credible.
"It was a very emotional piece of testimony," said Deters. "And he deserves a lot of credit for coming forward, as difficult as it is. He could have just said, you know, 'I'm moving on with my life.' But he wanted to stop this behavior and he's going to."
Deters said he suspects others have yet to break their silence about Drew's behavior.
"It's very rare that we uncover this type of activity and it's their first and only one," he said.
His office provided a list of where Drew has been employed "so people know and maybe they can talk to their kids or their children and ask them if they ever had a problem." In a written statement, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati says it is cooperating fully.
"They were ready to ship him to some program in Washington, D. C., and we asked them not to do that because we wanted to affect an arrest," Deters said.
The statement from the archdiocese reads, in part, "The protection of young people is of paramount importance and can never be compromised. We urge anyone who has any information regarding the accusations against Fr. Geoff Drew to please report it to Cincinnati Police Detective Dana Jones in the Personal Crimes Unit at 513-352-6947 or dana.jones@cincinnati-oh.gov Let us continue to pray for the healing of all victims of the horrific sin of sexual abuse."
Archbishop Dennis Schnurr had previously apologized for not doing enough in response to suspicions about Drew's alleged inappropriate behavior with teenage boys.
Since his ordination in 2004, Drew worked at three other parishes before he was named pastor at St. Ignatius, a position from which he was removed after three weeks.
SNAP, the Survivors Network of Abuse by Priests, called on Archbishop Dennis Schnurr "to personally visit every parish where Fr. Drew worked or attended and beg others who have information to come forward to police and prosecutors now."
Drew faces a possible life sentence, if convicted.
Judge Leslie Ghiz will preside over the case against Drew, who will be arraigned within the next three days.
"It's a sad, sickening case. I'll tell you that," said Deters. "And it's incredible that somebody with that type of authority would prey on little children."