Former Brighton priest must register as sex offender for life

ANN ARBOR — A former Brighton priest will serve a year in jail for criminal sexual conduct, according to a release from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Thursday, Nov. 9.

Timothy Crowley, 74, was sentenced to one year in the Washtenaw County Jail and five years' probation. He pled guilty in August to two counts of second degree CSC. He was also sentenced by Judge Patrick Conklin in the 22nd Circuit Court to receive sex offender treatment and to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Crowley was ordained in 1976 and served at St. Patrick in Brighton, among six other posts. He was removed from ministry in July 2002 and laicized (the loss of a clerical state) in 2015.

He was also a priest at St. Thomas Rectory in Ann Arbor. He was arrested in 2019 in Tempe, Arizona. His case was initially dismissed after a preliminary examination, but the Michigan AG's Office prevailed in the Court of Appeals. He was initially charged with four counts of first degree CSC and four counts of second degree CSC, all for crimes against one victim.

According to charging documents obtained by The Daily in 2019, Crowley began abusing a boy when the child was 10. He was an altar boy and would spent the night at the rectory on occasion.

Crowley was accused of making the boy watch pornography and masturbating in his presence. He also allegedly performed oral sex on the boy and threatened to kill him if he told anyone about the abuse.

In 1993, the Diocese of Lansing paid the boy and his family a $200,000 settlement. The boy signed a non-disclosure agreement as part of the settlement.

The abuse is reported to have continued through Crowley's appointments as pastor at St. Anthony in Hillsdale from 1984 until 1987 and St. Thomas the Apostle in Ann Arbor, from 1987 until 1993.

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Crowley is the ninth clergyman to be convicted by the AG's Office's Clergy Abuse Investigation Team. His sentencing, according to the release, completes the prosecutions of the five original priests charged with sexual assault after an investigation that began in 2018. In total, 11 priests throughout the state were charged, and convictions were secured against nine. Two priests await extradition from India.

"This sentence will never erase the pain Mr. Crowley inflicted on those who trusted him," Nessel wrote. "But it serves as an example of our pursuit of justice related to clergy abuse and, hopefully, can provide some sense of relief to his many victims.”

— Cassandra Lybrink is the local editor of The Livingston Daily. Contact her at clybrink@livingstondaily.com. Follow her on Twitter @CassLybrink.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Former Brighton priest must register as sex offender for life