Huntington Beach : Priest Pleads Not Guilty to Molestation Charges

A 34-year-old Roman Catholic priest charged with 24 felony counts of molesting three altar boys pleaded not guilty Friday afternoon.

Father Andrew Christian Andersen of the St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Huntington Beach was released on his own recognizance after his appearance before Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary at West County Municipal Court in Westminster.

“I am totally innocent and intend to fight to clear myself,” Andersen told reporters in a brief, prepared statement following his arraignment. “In the end, I am certain justice will prevail.”

The judge set a pretrial hearing for May 30 and a preliminary hearing for June 24. At the request of the district attorney’s office, the judge forbade Andersen from having any contact with minors unless a “responsible adult” is present.

Andersen is accused of fondling three altar boys between February, 1985, and March, 1985. Two of the boys are now 14 years old and one is 13, Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael C. Koski said.

The boys said Andersen fondled them in his vehicle, in a private Huntington Beach residence owned by the church, in the church rectory, in Andersen’s quarters on church premises and in a borrowed motor home, according to police.

The deputy district attorney would not divulge what evidence he had to support his case but said, “It’s a good case. I believe the victims are believable.”

William M. Monroe, Andersen’s attorney, said the case involved “misunderstanding and some gross exaggeration.”

“What we have is young boys with emerging sexuality having all kinds of strange thoughts about themselves and their bodies,” Monroe said, adding that the boys misinterpreted “innocent remarks or gestures by an adult.”

Andersen, who has been with the church for about four years, was suspended seven to 10 days ago by the Catholic Diocese of Orange pending the investigation’s outcome, Monroe said.

The district attorney’s office filed the charges on April 25 following a three-week investigation which began when the mother of a 13-year-old boy contacted police on March 31.