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Former Glouster Priest Sentenced To 12 Years For Sexual Battery
By: Susan Tebben
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ATHENS – A former Glouster Catholic priest has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for sexual crimes against a minor female and member of his church.
Henry Christopher Foxhoven, 45, was convicted in Athens County Common Pleas Court Tuesday on three counts of sexual battery, according to a press release by the Athens County Prosecutor’s Office.
Foxhoven was then sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with five years of probation after his prison sentence is complete. He will also be registered as a Tier III sex offender, meaning he will have to report to law enforcement every 90 days for the rest of his life.
Foxhoven was charged after he admitted to having sexual contact with the female, who is now 17. The contact was reportedly between August and October of this year.
Foxhoven led congregations at Holy Cross in Glouster and Saint Mary of the Hills in Buchtel.
“Foxhoven’s role was to help her, he satisfied himself instead,” Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said in the release. “He helped to destroy an institution, he caused harm, not only to the victim and members of the Holy Cross and Saint Mary of the (Hills) congregations, but members of the Catholic church worldwide.”
The former priest initially admitted the actions to Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton, of the Diocese of Steubenville, who reported it to the Athens County Sheriff’s Office. Monforton said in the previous release Foxhoven is prohibited from conducting “any sacred ministry or perform any ecclesiastical function, dress in clerical garb, or present himself as a priest.”