A deposition in a pending civil lawsuit reveals that a former Henderson priest faced allegations of inappropriately touching a young man six years before he was accused of abusing teenage boys at his parish.
53-year-old Mark Roberts denied the accusations of a young homeless man who he took to an apartment to let him shower and wash his clothes in about 1996. That's according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which got a copy of the deposition this week.
Roberts says in the document that he was put on leave as pastor of Saint Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Henderson for a time, and sent him for treatment and counseling.
In 2002, Roberts was accused of abusing five boys at his Henderson parish. He pleaded guilty in January 2003 to criminal charges of lewdness and child abuse.
He's been ordered to live at treatment center for priests near Saint Louis, Missouri, as an alternative to probation.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
