American homosexual and paedophile Catholic priest of Michigan pleads guilty to sexually molesting altar boys

Sentencing agreement for Timothy Crowley, 74, included five years on probation and required Crowley to spend the first year in jail, receive sex offender treatment, and register as a sex offender.

By Edward Era Barbacena 

A former Ann Arbor and Jackson-area priest facing multiple sexual assault charges has taken a plea deal.

Timothy Crowley pleaded guilty Wednesday, Aug. 23, to two felony counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, court records show.

In pleading guilty, Crowley’s two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct will be dismissed.

There is also a sentencing agreement in the plea deal which includes Crowley serving five years on probation and a requirement that he spends the first year in jail, receive sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender.

Crowley, 74, was charged with two counts each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and second-degree criminal sexual conduct stemming from incidents alleged to have taken place between 1986 and 1990 at Jackson’s St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Hillsdale’s St. Anthony Catholic Church and Ann Arbor’s St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church.

Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 8 before Washtenaw County Trial Judge Patrick Conlin Jr.

Charges against Crowley were originally dismissed in October 2019 after a judge found the charges failed to abide by the alleged crime’s then six-year statute of limitations.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office -- which was prosecuting the case as part of a large-scale investigation into sex abuse in Catholic dioceses -- argued on appeal that the district court abused its discretion when it dismissed the charges because it presented sufficient evidence that Crowley coerced the alleged victim into sexual acts and that the victim suffered personal injury well within the statute of limitations.

Charges were reinstated in 2022 after a review for the appeal court agreed with this assessment and issued an order to the Washtenaw County Trial Court to reinstate four of the eight original sexual misconduct charges against Crowley.

Crowley’s alleged victim testified he was a 10-year-old altar boy for Crowley in 1982 at St. Mary’s in Jackson when his family encouraged him to spend time with Crowley as they believed he was a good role model. MLive does not generally name victims of sexual assault.

While spending time with Crowley, the priest told him he was “a good boy” and would touch him slightly while encouraging him to sleep in bed together, adding “it was normal and natural,” the victim previously testified.

The encounters continued regularly in Jackson and continued when Crowley was appointed to St. Anthony’s in Hillsdale, where the victim stated Crowley began giving him alcohol and cigarettes, the victim said.

The victim’s family contacted an attorney in 1993 and a deal was struck with the Catholic Diocese where it paid the victim $200,000 to sign a non-disclosure agreement and the dioceses would “take appropriate action against Crowley,” the victim said.

Crowley underwent a two-year rehabilitation program and then served the Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage in Alaska, according to news reports from the early 2000s, when the allegations came under public scrutiny.

Crowley was removed from ministry in Anchorage after U.S. dioceses adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults in 2002, according to the Lansing Diocese. He was defrocked in 2015.