A grand jury has indicted a Cincinnati Catholic priest on nine counts of rape, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced today.
Father Geoff Drew is accused of raping an altar boy at St. Jude in Bridgetown, where Drew was then music minister, between 1988 and 1991. The survivor was 10 when the abuse started. He came to prosecutors directly with the accusations. Deters said during the announcement of the charges today that he finds the accuser “very credible” and called the case “incredibly disturbing.”
The survivor alleges that Drew raped him in his office during and after school.
Deters said the Cincinnati Archdiocese has been cooperating with the investigation and does not appear to have been aware of the abuse at the time.
The Archdiocese released a statement about the allegations today.
“Today, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati learned that a Hamilton County Grand Jury returned a nine-count indictment against Fr. Geoff Drew stemming from alleged crimes during his time at St. Jude Parish, where he served as music director 1984-1999,” the statement reads. “The Archdiocese of Cincinnati was made aware of these allegations after Archbishop Dennis Schnurr removed Fr. Drew as pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish on July 23. We have fully cooperated with this investigation and will continue to do so.”
Drew also served as music minister at Elder High School between 1988 and 1991. He was not a priest at the time of the alleged incidents and was ordained by the archdiocese in 2004.
The first complaints the archdiocese received about Drew — including inappropriate touching and sexual references — began in 2013, when he was a pastor at a church in Butler County. Drew later applied for and received a job at St. Ignatius of Loyola in Monfort Heights in 2018, where he drew more allegations about inappropriate behavior. Past investigations into allegations against Drew proved inconclusive, however.
Deters said Drew could face life in prison if found guilty of the charges against him.
“I’m now even more concerned that additional victims are out there,” Deters tweeted after the announcement. “I urge anyone with information about Drew to contact @CincyPD officer Dana Jones at 513-352-6947. I also commend the young man who came forward to speak up and report this vicious crime. This isn’t easy.”
This article appears in Aug 14-21, 2019.
