Coronavirus
Monsignor’s sexual assault case dismissed
A sexual assault charge against a 95-year-old La Crosse priest has been dismissed.
Monsignor Bernard McGarty had been scheduled for trial next week on a fourth-degree charge of assault, for allegedly offering money to a woman for sex.
The incident reportedly happened last year on a park bench outside La Crosse’s Main Street Library.
District attorney Tim Gruenke says he moved to drop the case against McGarty because of the priest’s age and medical condition, and because a trial would have been delayed until later this year over concerns about the coronavirus.
