Dn. Leo O’Hara
Archdiocese of Baltimore
Resigned: 1980
Charged: 1987
Died: 1994
Assignment History:
- 1957 Received into the Novitiate of the Third Order of St. Francis
- 1976 Minister for Distribution of Communion, St. Athanasius, Baltimore, MD
- Rose of Lima, Baltimore, MD
- Assistant Chaplain, South Baltimore General Hospital, MD
- 1977-1980 Candidate for Permanent Deacon, Baltimore, MD
Summary of Abuse Allegations Against Dn. Leo O’Hara:
Deacon Leo O’Hara was one of the 156 individuals identified by the Maryland Attorney General as having been accused of sexually abusing minors during their tenure with the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
According to the Attorney General’s report, the Associate Pastor at St. Rose of Lima in Baltimore reported in 1981 that he had received a report from a parishioner that her son had been sexually abused by Dn. O’Hara when the victim was a pre-teen.
According to the report, after Dn. O’Hara resigned in 1980, five victims in the St. Rose of Lima elementary school reported having been sexually abuse by Dn. O’Hara.
In 1987, Dn. O’Hara was charged with 16 counts of sexual offenses and 16 counts of child abuse in Ocean City. In addition, Dn. O’Hara was the subject of a 1987 criminal investigation into the sexual abuse of minors in Anne Arundel County, MD. According to the Attorney General’s report, during the investigation, Dn. O’Hara admitted to molesting over one hundred victims between 1953 and 1980.
According to the report, in 1995, a man reported having been sexually abused by Dn. O’Hara in 1978, when the victim was 11 years old. The victim was admitted to the hospital, where Dn. O’Hara visited him. Dn. O’Hara grew close to the victim, eventually bringing the victim to his home in Brooklyn Park. Dn. O’Hara sexually abused the victim in Dn. O’Hara’s apartment over the course of approximately one year, before abruptly disappearing.
According to the report, a man reported in 2002 having been sexually abused by Dn. O’Hara beginning in 1976, when the victim was 9 years old, and continuing until the victim was 14 years old, and again when the victim was 16 years old. The victim was a patient at Harbor Hospital in Baltimore, where he was visited by Dn. O’Hara. Dn. O’Hara began to groom the victim in the hospital, eventually bringing the victim to his home, where Dn. O’Hara repeatedly sexually abused the victim. On one occasion, Dn. O’Hara spent the night in the same bed with the victim and the victim’s younger brother. Dn. O’Hara sexually abused the victim’s younger brother as well.
Dn. O’Hara’s name does not appear on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s list of priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct with a minor.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Maryland, contact our office today. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse nationwide. We can help. Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.