Prosecutors withdraw request for accuse priest’s treatment records

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has withdrawn its request for access to treatment records of former priest Edward Avery, who is charged with abusing a Northeast Philadelphia altar boy in the ’90s.

The request was submitted for records from Avery’s stay at St. John Vianney, where the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sends priests for behavior and addiction treatment. Avery was there five years before the accusation from victim named in a grand jury indictment earlier this year.

The Inquirer reports prosecutors have withdrawn the request because most of the files have been destroyed or are protected under patient confidentially laws. Avery, two other priests, a former teacher and a monsignor charged with sexual abuse and cover-up.