Former Catholic priest dies before facing sex assault trial

By: The Associated Press

news@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -A former Roman Catholic priest awaiting trial on sexual assault charges has died.              

The Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office says Barry Meehan died of a heart attack on Dec. 8. He was 67.              

Meehan pleaded not guilty in 2014 to five counts of first-degree sexual assault on two young men in the late 1980s and early 1990s while Meehan was a priest at parishes in Providence and Cranston.             

He resigned as pastor of St. Timothy’s Church in Warwick in 2013 after state police conducted a joint investigation with the Providence Catholic Diocese beginning in 2012.

The Vatican laicized Meehan last year.              

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin’s office says the charges will be formally dismissed on Jan. 4, which was Meehan’s next scheduled court date.  

Meehan lived in West Warwick.

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