Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Hagerstown, Maryland, USA · 2004

United States: Episcopal school chaplain Kenneth Behrel convicted of abusing two students, second sentence after appeal

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Episcopal priest and school chaplain, St James School

Organization

St James School, Maryland, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland

Spiritual nexus

As ordained chaplain, Behrel held pastoral authority over students who came to him for religious counsel in a residential Episcopal school setting, using that specifically clerical access — distinct from a lay teacher or headmaster's authority — to isolate and abuse them.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2004-11-01 · conviction; appeal; second trial and sentence

    Circuit Court for Washington County, Maryland. Behrel, chaplain of the Episcopal St James School from 1983 to 1986, was convicted by a jury in 2002 of sexually abusing a 14-year-old student and sentenced to 12 years; that conviction was affirmed on the merits of guilt but the sentence proceedings were revisited. A second victim's case, involving abuse in the 1980s, resulted in an Alford plea and a four-year sentence imposed in November 2004, to run consecutive to the earlier 12-year term.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • chaplaincy authority over boarding-school students
  • access and isolation obtained through pastoral counseling role

Primary record

Sources

court record appellate opinion Behrel v. State, Nos. 750, 751, Sept. Term 2002, Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

Appellate opinion addressing Behrel's conviction for sexual abuse of a student at St James School.

institutional reporting news report 'Former priest gets 4 years for sex abuse', Maryland Daily Record, 23 November 2004.

Report on the second sentencing, consecutive to the earlier 12-year term.

Related record

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