Police say a man wielding a sledgehammer destroyed a memorial at a Roman Catholic church in New Jersey that was dedicated to the victims of child sexual abuse.
Police say 37-year-old Gordon Ellis attacked the 400-pound black basalt monument outside St. Joseph's Church in Mendham on Friday night. Ellis is charged with defacement of private property, desecration of a venerated object and criminal mischief.
Police don't have a motive.
The memorial was dedicated in 2004 near the rectory that was home to a priest who was defrocked and admitted molesting about a dozen children at St. Joseph's and other parishes.
Monsignor Joseph Anginoli tells The Daily Record of Parsippany the memorial would be replaced but probably not in its previous form.
NJ Monument to Child Sex Abuse Victims Destroyed
Police don't yet have a motive for a 37-year-old man who destroyed a monument dedicated to child sex abuse victims
Copyright AP - Associated Press
