Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA · 2019

New Jersey: priest Thomas Ganley — first conviction from the state Clergy Abuse Task Force

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Catholic priest, head of Youth Ministry, St. Cecelia Church, Iselin, Diocese of Metuchen

Organization

Diocese of Metuchen

Spiritual nexus

Ganley's supervisory role over the parish Youth Ministry program was the operative means of access to the victim.

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2019-08-26 · guilty plea and sentencing

Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County. Thomas P. Ganley pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault and admitted to sexual acts with a victim who was 16 or 17 between 1990 and 1994, while he held supervisory authority as head of the parish Youth Ministry. Judge Diane Pincus sentenced him to four years in state prison, Megan's Law registration and a no-contact order. He was the first priest charged and convicted through the Clergy Abuse Task Force New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal formed in September 2018.

supervisory authority over a parish Youth Ministry program used to access a 16-17-year-old

Primary record

official attorney general press release sentencing announcement State of New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, press release (Aug. 26, 2019).: Official NJ AG press release announcing Ganley's guilty plea and sentence and identifying him as the Task Force's first conviction.
regional newspaper court reporting sentencing report 'New Jersey priest sentenced to four years for sexual assault of teenage girl,' Press of Atlantic City.: Contemporaneous reporting confirming plea, sentence, and Youth Ministry role.

Related record