Father Robert Yurgel
Diocese of Charlotte (Capuchin Franciscans)
Ordained: 1996
Removed: 2008
Convicted: 2009
Assigned as follows:
- 1992: Catholic Conference Center (Hickory, NC)
- 1992-1993: St. Felix Friary (Wilmington, DE)
- 1993-1996: Our Lady of Lourdes Friary (Paterson, NJ)
- 1996-1997: Immaculate Conception Friary (Bronx, NY)
- 1997-1999: St. Matthew’s (Charlotte, NC)
- 1997-1999: Our Lady of Consolation Catholic Church (Charlotte, NC)
- Unknown: St. Michael’s (Gastonia, NC)
- 1999-2001: Immaculate Conception Friary (New York, NY)
- 2001-2003: Our Lady of Lourdes (Paterson, NJ)
- 2003-2005: Immaculate Conception Friary (New York, NY)
- 2005-2008: St. Mary’s Hospital (Passaic, NJ)
- Unknown: St. Francis (Hackensack, NJ)
- 2006-2008: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Passaic, NJ)
- 2008-2009: Immaculate Conception Friary (Bronx, NY)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Father Robert Yurgel:
According to media reports, in April 2008, the Diocese of Charlotte received abuse allegations against Father Robert Yurgel when he was arrested in Passaic, New Jersey. A man reported to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police that he had been repeatedly abused by Yurgel almost a decade earlier. Yurgel had been assigned by the New Jersey-based Capuchin Franciscans religious order to work at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte from 1997 to 1999. The abuse occurred when the victim was a 14-year-old altar boy and reportedly took place at several locations including St. Matthew and Our Lady of Consolation churches in Charlotte, North Carolina and St. Michael Church in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Yurgel was extradited to Charlotte following his arrest. In February 2009, he pleaded guilty to a felony, second-degree sexual offense, and served nearly eight years in prison.
In 2010, the related civil lawsuit against the Capuchin Franciscans and the Charlotte diocese was settled for a total of $1.23 million. Yurgel was dismissed from the order and the clerical state in 2010. According to his most recent sex offender registry, he is residing in the Clifton, New Jersey area.
In August 2016, Yurgel was released from prison and was ordered to register as a sex offender. Records show that he moved from North Carolina and is currently living in New Jersey.
In 2019, Yurgel was included on the Diocese of Charlotte list named as being credibly accused of child sex abuse.
In December 2020, a second accuser has come forward with sexual abuse allegations against Yurgel. According to media reports, the accuser said that Yurgel abused him as a child at St. Matthew’s in Ballantyne, North Carolina in the 1990s. Reports state that the lawsuit was filed in Mecklenburg County and that the accuser was 5-7 years old when the abuse took place in 1997 and lasted about two years.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in North Carolina, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte now have legal options to recover damages due to a change in North Carolina law. Contact us at 888-283-9922. Email us at [email protected].