Linda Harris
STEUBENVILLE A Franciscan friar under indictment for the alleged rape of a woman he counseled nearly a decade ago pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Ohio’s Jefferson County Common Pleas Court.
The Rev. David R. Morrier indicted April 7 on charges of rape and two counts of sexual battery of a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville made his initial appearance in front of Judge Joseph Bruzzeze.
Because he appeared voluntarily, Prosecutor Jane Hanlin said Morrier, 59, was entitled to be released on his own recognizance.
The indictment alleged Morrier, ordained into the Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance in 1997, used his position as the woman’s counselor to make her believe that engaging in sexual activity with him would help with her mental health issues.
Staff writer
Linda Harris
ARRAIGNED â The Rev. David R. Morrier, 59, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to rape and two counts of sexual battery during his arraignment in Jefferson Common Pleas Court.
STEUBENVILLE The Franciscan friar under indictment for the alleged rape of a woman he counseled nearly a decade ago entered a “not guilty” plea Wednesday in Jefferson County Common Pleas Court.
The Rev. David R. Morrier, indicted April 7 on charges of rape and two counts of sexual battery of a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville, made his initial appearance in front of Jefferson County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Bruzzeze.
Morrier
LORETTO A Franciscan priest working in Loretto has been charged with rape and sexual assault against an individual with mental illness that had been under his care.
Third Order Franciscan Father David R. Morrier, 59, was charged with one count of rape and two counts of sexual battery Wednesday in Jefferson County, Ohio, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
Morrier, who according to LinkedIn is currently employed as an “assistant to local minister at TOR Franciscans” in Loretto, allegedly assaulted an individual with mental illness under his care from November 2010 through Spring 2013.
According to the indictment, obtained by the NCR, the alleged victim’s ability “to resist or consent was substantially impaired because of a mental or physical condition.”
Staff writer
STEUBENVILLE The Rev. David Morrier, TOR, under indictment for rape and sexual battery of a woman he counseled a decade ago at Franciscan University of Steubenville, had been banned from campus in 2014, university officials said Thursday.
The statement, released Thursday morning in response to a Herald-Star story detailing Morrier’s indictment, did not explain why the university removed him or when administrators were made aware of the allegations against him.
It did, however, note that FUS “has cooperated and will continue to cooperate fully” with authorities investigating the alleged sexual misconduct.
Morrier, 59, was indicted Wednesday by a county grand jury on one count of rape and two counts of sexual battery of a female patient dating from November 2010 to the spring of 2013.
Campus of Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio, is pictured Nov. 5, 2016. (Newscom/John Greim)
A former campus minister at Franciscan University of Steubenville has been charged with rape and sexual battery against an individual with mental illness placed under his care for mental health treatment.
The charges against Third Order Franciscan Fr. David Morrier were filed on April 7 in Jefferson County, Ohio. Morrier, 59, is charged with one count of rape and two counts of sexual battery dating from November 2010 through the spring of 2013.
According to the indictment, the alleged victim s ability to resist or consent was substantially impaired because of a mental or physical condition.