Deakin, Richard (Fr.)

Father Richard Deakin was ordained on April 13, 1985. In 1990, a girl informed her mother that Deakin sexually abused her in 1985, beginning when she was 13. Deakin raped her approximately five times a week at various locations, such as the priest’s bedroom in the friary, his office, the church basement, Sunday school rooms, and the parish automobile. The victim’s mother called the police, and in 1990, Deakin was arrested, charged, and convicted in Baltimore City of second-degree rape and sexual abuse of a child. In 1992, the victim sued the Archdiocese and Capuchins, eventually settling for a large sum. A Pennsylvania 2018 Grand Jury report described a letter from Deakin, undated, addressed to the “Most Holy Father,” in which he admitted to the sexual abuse of a teenager in the St. Martins parish.