Eugene Delgaudio Right About TSA Concerns, CBS News: "Priest defrocked for child sex abuse now works for TSA"
A Catholic priest who was removed from the ministry over sex abuse allegations now holds a sensitive security post at Philadelphia International Airport, CBS Philly reports.
Until 2002, Thomas Harkins was a Catholic priest working at churches across southern New Jersey, the station reports. But the Diocese of Camden removed him from ministry because it found he sexually abused two young girls. Now, in a new lawsuit, a third CBS woman is claiming she is also one of Harkins' victims.
CBS Philly reports that this week it observed Harkin working as a TSA checkpoint supervisor between airport terminals D and E, where thousands of people - including lots of kids - pass through every day.
The new lawsuit, filed in federal court against the Camden Diocese, accuses Harkins of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl 10 to 15 times in 1980 and 1981, the station reported. Filed on behalf of the alleged victim, the suit alleges the abuse occurred while Harkins was a priest at Saint Anthony of Padua parish in Hammonton, N.J., with one alleged assaults occurring in Harkins' bedroom at the rectory.