SAN JOSE, Calif. — A man who says he was molested three decades ago by a Jesuit priest was arrested Friday on allegations that he tracked down the retired cleric in his retirement home and severely beat him.
Will Lynch, 43, was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and was to be released on $25,000 bond after his attorney negotiated his surrender with authorities in Santa Clara County, said defense attorney Pat Harris.
Lynch has harbored a fantasy for years of confronting the priest, who also allegedly molested his little brother.
Harris said the Rev. Jerold Lindner, a 65-year-old Jesuit priest, was attacked in March or April at the Jesuits’ Sacred Heart retirement home in Los Gatos, but police didn’t zero in on Lynch until this month.
The priest’s condition and whereabouts weren’t immediately known. He has previously denied abusing the Lynch boys and has not been criminally charged.
The abuse falls outside the statute of limitations.
Harris said Lynch will plead not guilty when he is arraigned sometime in the next month. He is accused of finding Lindner in his room at the rest home and pummeling him with his fists.
Lynch and his younger brother settled with the Jesuits of the California Province, a Roman Catholic religious order, for $625,000 in 1998 after alleging that Lindner abused them in 1975 during weekend camping trips in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The boys were 7 and 5 at the time.
