Priest Denies Abusing Wyckoff Boy After Confession, Friends Say

A New Jersey couple says a priest who confessed in October to having sexually abused a Wyckoff teenage boy over a decade ago lied, according to a NorthJersey.com report.

According to the report, Michael and Amy Lenehan of Colts Neck say the day after Rev. Michael Fugee signed an agreement with prosecutors admitting he groped the teen between 1999 and 2001, he told them he didn’t do it. Fugee signed the confession, they told NorthJersey.com, to avoid jail time.

The remarks could become a legal issue, as one of the stipulations of the confession is that Fugee is forbidden from denouncing it, publicly and privately, the report said. He is also expected to be defrocked, and is not allowed to work with children again in any capacity, the report said.

Fugee’s case made headlines last year when the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office took charge of it and publicly criticized the Archdiocese of Newark after Fugee was found to be working with children.