New York police have arrested a retired Co Antrim priest on charges of attempting to sodomise a mentally handicapped teenage boy in a public toilet.
Nassau County Police claimed former parish priest Father Andrew Millar (69) last week accosted the 15-year-old boy in a toilet stall at Tobay Beach in Long Island.
Police said the boy had been at the beach with his family. In the toilet, they said, the boy was confronted by Father Millar. The boy's father became concerned while he waited outside because his son was taking a long time. When he went to investigate, he discovered Father Millar inside the stall with his son, police said.
Father Millar tried to flee but the father and another witness held him while police were called to the scene.
Father Millar spent the night in jail and has been released on
$15,000 bail after being arraigned on third-degree sodomy charges, according to the Nassau County District Attorney's office. If convicted he faces up to four years in jail.
He will appear in court again on June 15th for a pre-trial hearing.
The priest's New York attorney could not be contacted for comment.
Ordained in Antrim in 1958, Father Millar moved to the US in 1964, where he served in nine parishes in the suburban Nassau and Suffolk County areas near New York City.
The priest retired last year and was not involved in diocese education, a Rockville Center Diocese spokeswomen said.
"This is the first time one of our priests has been arrested for a crime like this," the spokeswoman, Ms Joanne Novarro, said.
"We're very sad and are trying to get Father Millar the help he needs and reach out to the family, too," Ms Novarro said.
Father Millar has left the retirement home for priests where he had been staying while he is waiting to enter a psychiatric evaluation unit, she said.