Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Perv priest slaps probe

The highest-ranking New York priest ensnared in the Catholic Church sex scandal was never asked for his side of the story by the district attorneys investigating him, the clergyman's sister claimed yesterday. 

Monsignor Charles Kavanagh -- defrocked Wednesday after the church concluded that he sexually abused a former student decades ago -- told his sister, Anne Mandt, that the neither the Manhattan, Bronx or Westchester DA ever contacted him. 

"If somebody had asked him these questions . . . they would have found out that it's a flat-out lie," Mandt said.

His alleged victim, Daniel Donohue, told the Manhattan DA in 2002 that Kavanagh sexually abused him back in the 1970s. Kavanagh later worked in parishes in The Bronx and Westchester.

The Manhattan DA's Office declined comment. 

The Bronx and Westchester DA's offices did not immediately return calls for comment.

SIC: NYP/USA