Accused Priest Extradited From India To Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities say a priest accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Minnesota has been returned to the U.S. from his native India to face charges.

Roseau County Attorney Karen Foss says the Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul is now in Minneapolis — after a high court in New Dehli, India, dismissed his plea to stay in that country. Foss says Jeyapaul will be transported to Roseau County in northern Minnesota on Tuesday.

The 59-year-old is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual misconduct. Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted a girl multiple times in 2004 and 2005, starting when she was 14. Jeyapaul was a priest at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Greenbush, near the Canadian border, at the time.

Criminal charges were filed after Jeyapaul returned to India in 2005.