the Rev. Kenneth K. Behrel was a graduate of Nashotah House Theological Seminary ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago in 1978. He was a priest member of the conservative Anglo-Catholic organizations the Society of the Holy Cross, Episcopal Synod of America, and the Society of Mary. Behrel was chaplain of St. James School in Hagerstown, Maryland from 1980 to 1985. Online information about St. James School notes that “several” minor students at the all-boys school were abused during his tenure there. Behrel was arrested on March 12, 2001 at his rectory in Grayslake, Illinois as a fugitive from Maryland on firearms violations, possession of cocaine, underage sexual assault, production of child pornography, and corruption of minors through provision of pornography, alcohol, and marijuana. He was found guilty on February 7, 2002 of assaulting one 14 year old student at the Episcopal boarding school. Behrel immediately appealed his conviction, claiming errors in the search warrant for his footlocker, which was identified by several accusers as containing sexually explicit photographs of themselves. The appeal was denied on May 7, 2003. He was sentenced to two consecutive twelve-year terms. He was sentenced again on re-trial to four years and released in 2008 to an address in Waukegan, Illinois.
Spotlight on abuse: Episcopal priest Kenneth Behrel
Impeccable conservative church credentials, but child sex abuse, cocaine, and guns? Say it ain’t so.