New Jersey Priest Arrested Over Alleged Abuse of 14-Year-Old Girl

A New Jersey priest has been arrested on allegations that he sexually abused a girl for three years, starting when she was just 14 years old. The alleged crime is said to have taken place between 1990 and 1994 while Father Thomas P. Ganley, now 63, worked at Saint Cecelia Church in Woodbridge. Ganley, who’s now posted at Saint Philip and Saint James Church in Phillipsburg, has been charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault in the first degree, and two counts of sexual assault in the second degree, NBC News reports. He has a court appearance scheduled for Friday. It’s the first criminal case brought by the state’s new Clergy Abuse Task Force, which was formed following the damning Pennsylvania grand jury report that concluded 300 priests in the state had sexually abused more than 1,000 children. Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said: “This case illustrates that we are prepared to move swiftly to investigate allegations, and where there are viable criminal charges, to pursue those charges.”