Marmion Abbey monk charged with sexually abusing former student

AURORA, Ill. — Police in Aurora have arrested and charged a 66-year-old monk of Marimon Abbey with sexually abusing a former student, authorities said Wednesday.

Joseph J. Charron, also known as Brother Andre, faces multiple counts of criminal sexual assault by force, aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under 18, and criminal sexual abuse in a non-consensual manner.

According to police, the abuse lasted over a 15-year period.

In a statement to WGN News, spokesman Paris Lewbel said in part, “We then, through the course of this investigation, determined there were multiple times of sexual abuse that occurred over the past 15 years.”

The investigation started in September of 2021 when the former student filed a police report. 

Authorities say he told them he and the monk had sexual contact multiple times while he was a student of the academy and that the non-consensual sexual contact continued beyond graduation. 

The school has since placed Charron on administrative leave. Officials also barred the 66-year-old from the school campus and other ministerial functions. 

Authorities say Marmion Academy and Marmion Abbey cooperated with the criminal investigation. Both add that an internal investigation is ongoing.

Marmion Abby sent WGN a statement that reads in part, “We pray for all who have been impacted by this and we pray for the healing of those involved and for all the members of our Marmion family.“

Detectives don’t have any other evidence of victims but ask anyone who may know of another victim or may have been a victim themselves to contact the Investigations Division at (630) 256-5500.