BOSTON (AP) — Court records show that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy during a wedding reception in the 1970s.
Court documents obtained by The Boston Globe show that McCarrick is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14.
McCarrick was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation confirmed he had sexually molested adults as well as children.
Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney for the man alleging the abuse by McCarrick, says he is the first cardinal in the U.S. to ever be criminally charged with a sexual crime against a minor.
The alleged victim told investigators that McCarrick was a family friend and began abusing him when he was a boy, according to a report filed in court. When he was 16, the man claims McCarrick groped him and fondled him on the campus of Wellesley College, where his brother’s wedding reception was being held.
An attorney for McCarrick told The Associated Press that they “look forward to addressing the case in the courtroom” and declined further comment.