John Taggart, former priest, and ex-teacher Christopher Crisona charged with sexual assault of minor in Wilmington in mid-1990s
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An 80-year-old former priest of the Diocese of Wilmington and a 57-year-old ex-teacher in local Catholic schools have been charged with sexual abuse of a minor in the mid-1990s, the Delaware attorney general announced in a news release March 17.
John Taggart, 80, who resigned from the diocese more than two decades ago, and Christopher Crisona, 57, are charged with several felonies following an investigation into allegations of abuse at St. Thomas the Apostle school and rectory in Wilmington, as well as other locations. Now-deceased Father John Francis O’Brien was also identified as an abuser, according to the attorney general.
Taggart and Crisona have been arrested on multiple charges of sexual abuse occurring between 1994 and 1996, according to the attorney general. Crisona was placed on administrative leave March 10 from his job as a first-grade teacher at Andover Elementary with the Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Fla., according to the school district. He has been employed there since August 2008.
“The state’s indictment alleges a pattern of gravely serious abuse against a juvenile by two adults in a position of trust,” Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in the news release. “As prosecutors, and as parents, these kinds of cases keep us up at night — but they also give us purpose … (the survivor) suffered profound trauma over a period of years and deserves justice. I’m grateful to the police, prosecutors and social workers who have been critical to this investigation and who are committed to getting justice.”
Taggart was identified following an anonymous report to the Diocese of Wilmington, and subsequent Wilmington Police Department investigation, regarding alleged sexual abuse by Taggart and the late Father O’Brien. WPD’s investigation found evidence that Taggart repeatedly abused a young person during their 7th and 8th grade years at St. Thomas, and continued after the survivor left St. Thomas and began high school, according to the attorney general.
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