Agents raid Pa. monastery where friar tied to sex abuse lived
Agents with the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office have seized documents and computers from a monastery where a Franciscan friar killed himself after he was accused of sexually abusing students at schools in two states.
The attorney general’s office refused to comment on Thursday’s raid at the St. Bernardine Monastery near Hollidaysburg. Officials also declined to comment.
Sixty-two-year-old Brother Stephen Baker stabbed himself in the heart in January 2013, nine days after the Roman Catholic diocese in Youngstown, Ohio, settled abuse claims with 11 former students at a school in that state.
The settlement eventually led to claims by more than 88 former students at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that were settled for $8 million last year.
A school spokesman didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.