Friday, November 13, 2009

Youth leader Brendon McConnell arrested

BrendanMcConnell Brendon McConnell is a catholic youth leader working in the Life Teen Program at Our Lady of Light Parish in Fort Myers.  He stands charged with a sex offense with a child between the 12 and 16 years old.

The victim's mother came across a large number of messages between Brendan McConnell and the victim. The mother said they knew McConnell through church and that he is a core leader in the youth ministries, reports said.

The mother told deputies the messages started out as friendly, but then turned sexual in nature, reports said.

According to reports, the victim told her mother she and McConnell had oral sex twice.

It looks like the church did everything right prior to letting McConnell work with kids. I wonder if they provided adequate monitoring?

As a volunteer around children and vulnerable adults, Mr. McConnell underwent a mandatory criminal background check, which includes fingerprinting, and he was cleared by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Another Catholic. I really should keep track of these people in a separate category.