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Clergyman Sentenced For Restraining Teen
By: Mike Stiles - Monday, January 27, 2020

Brian Stanley (photo courtesy of Michigan Attorney General's Office)

(ALLEGAN) – A clergyman with ties to Branch County has been sentenced for restraining a boy in 2013.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that 57 year old Father Brian Stanley was sentenced to 60 days in the Allegan County Jail with credit for two days served. He will also be on five years probation and must register as a sex offender for 15 years. He was given the sentence Monday by Allegan County Circuit Judge Margaret Bakker.

Stanley is the second priest to be convicted through Nessel's clergy abuse investigation.

In November, Stanley plead guilty to one count of attempted false imprisonment. He was arrested and charged in August 2019, after investigators determined he reportedly immobilized the boy by wrapping him in plastic wrap and using masking tape to cover his eyes and mouth in 2013. Stanley left the boy alone in the janitor's room of St. Margaret's Church in Coloma for an extended period of time before returning and letting him go.

Stanley's August arrest was made after Nessel seized files from the Diocese in October 2018. It showed the victim's family asked Stanley to council their son. Other files showed Stanley had been engaging in this type of conduct for decades.

Stanley has served a number of parishes in Southwest Michigan, including at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Coldwater and at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Union City.

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