Former priest charged with sexually abusing teen in 2001

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) – A former Catholic priest has been charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in a suburban Chicago hotel in 2001 after police reopened an investigation that had been dormant for more than a decade.

Fifty-six-year-old Kenneth Lewis of Arvada, Colo., is charged with felony criminal predatory sexual assault. He posted bail after a court hearing in Chicago on Saturday.

Evanston Police Commander Ryan Glew says the alleged assault occurred when the then-priest accompanied the boy and his family on a trip from Tulsa, Okla., to Evanston. He says the family reported the incident in 2004 but prosecutors declined to charge Lewis. He says an Evanston detective reopened the investigation last fall and an arrest warrant was issued for Lewis. He says Lewis left the priesthood in 2007.