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BOSTON (Aug. 23) - Former priest John Geoghan, the convicted child molester whose prosecution sparked the sex abuse scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church nationwide, died Saturday after being attacked in prison.
Preliminary indications are that Geoghan, 68, was strangled, Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said. An autopsy will be conducted Monday.
Conte said fellow inmate Joseph L. Druce, 37, attacked Geoghan shortly before noon on Saturday. Geoghan died at 1:17 p.m., shortly after he was taken to a Leominster hospital, Conte said.
Druce is currently serving a life sentence and will face murder charges in Geoghan's death, Conte said.
The attack took place just after lunchtime at Souza-Baranowski Correction Center, about 30 miles northwest of Boston, Department of Correction spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said. Geoghan was being held in protective custody to shield him from the general prison population, but he still had some contact with other inmates.
The suspect was immediately placed in isolation and the incident was under investigation.
In civil lawsuits, more than 130 people have claimed Geoghan sexually abused them as children during his three decades as a priest at Boston-area parishes. He was convicted last year of indecent assault and battery for fondling a 10-year-old boy at a swimming pool.
If anybody ever had something like this coming...
Preliminary indications are that Geoghan, 68, was strangled, Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said. An autopsy will be conducted Monday.
Conte said fellow inmate Joseph L. Druce, 37, attacked Geoghan shortly before noon on Saturday. Geoghan died at 1:17 p.m., shortly after he was taken to a Leominster hospital, Conte said.
Druce is currently serving a life sentence and will face murder charges in Geoghan's death, Conte said.
The attack took place just after lunchtime at Souza-Baranowski Correction Center, about 30 miles northwest of Boston, Department of Correction spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said. Geoghan was being held in protective custody to shield him from the general prison population, but he still had some contact with other inmates.
The suspect was immediately placed in isolation and the incident was under investigation.
In civil lawsuits, more than 130 people have claimed Geoghan sexually abused them as children during his three decades as a priest at Boston-area parishes. He was convicted last year of indecent assault and battery for fondling a 10-year-old boy at a swimming pool.
If anybody ever had something like this coming...
