NYC church security guard accuses priest of sexual assault
Manhattan NY December 4 2020 A security guard at a Manhattan church has accused a priest of sexually assaulting her after she says she caught him watching gay pornography in his office on Nov. 4, according to reports.
Ashley Gonzalez, 22, was working her second day on the job at the Church of St. Michael in Midtown when Fr. George Rutler allegedly attacked her, News 12 reported.
Gonzalez said the alleged assault came after she filmed a man — who she says is Rutler — watching porn on a church computer.
“He looked at me with a smile, looked away, and he put his hand inside his pants, and he was playing with himself,” Gonzalez told News 12.
“He aggressively threw himself on me and grabbed me sexually, aggressively, and I was fighting him off of me,” she said.
Rutler denied the accusations in a Nov. 20 letter to parishioners, which was obtained by the National Catholic Reporter.
“I strongly deny this allegation, which I maintain is incoherent and painful to my reputation and inconsistent with how I have conducted myself in fifty years of ministerial service without any accusation of misbehavior,” he wrote.
The priest also told NCR in a statement that he is “totally innocent.”
Rutler, who routinely appears on Eternal Word Television Network, has “stepped aside from the parish” as authorities investigate Gonzalez’s claims, the Archdiocese of New York told News 12 in a statement.
After the alleged assault, Gonzalez, with the help of a private investigative firm, reportedly filed a police report.
The District Attorney’s office is handling the case, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
