Men [of God] at work in New York

25 Mar 2001

NEW YORK

BROOKLYN - Three men, former students at St. Cecilia's School, have come forward to speak about what they charge was done to them around the early 1980s by the school's then-administrator and supervisor of altar boys, Fr. Patrick Sexton, 49.

One of the former students said that when he was 12,Sexton lured him to his bedroom in the church rectory. He said the naked priest had him strip and adopt poses while snapping photos.

One of the men, Daniel Dugo, has gone to the police and to the district attorney, charging that when he was 8, Sexton fondled him while nibbling his ear. He first approached the Brooklyn Diocese, which offered him offering $15,000 in exchange for silence.

The police and the district attorney told Dugo that even if the nearly 20-year-old charges are true, there is nothing they can do. The statute of limitations is up. However, a police source familiar with the case said the district attorney is continuing to investigate. No longer a practicing priest, he lives across the street from a playground and a public school in Queens. A neighbor said he gives music lessons after school to boys.

Sexton said he denies all the charges and doesn't understand why the 3 former students remember things the way they do. He denied acting in a sexually inappropriate way. "What happened 20 years ago is all in memory, and memory can do what it wants," Sexton said. "Their memory is not accurate. If I'm affectionate, then they are remembering affection as not affection."

Post, 3/7/00