AG: House parent at Catholic school abused foreign students

EBENSBURG, Pa. – A former house parent at a central Pennsylvania Catholic school has been charged with sexually attacking two students.

Twenty-eight-year-old John Thornberry declined comment when reached Tuesday on his cellphone in Mills River, North Carolina. That’s where he’s lived since he was removed from his job overseeing Chinese international students at Bishop Carroll High School in Ebensburg in February.

That’s when school officials alerted authorities upon learning of the students’ accusations.

One boy told police Thornberry fondled him after first taking him to a part of the building beyond the view of surveillance cameras. A second boy told authorities he fought off a molestation attempt by Thornberry, and officials say at least one other boy may have been molested since December 2014.

Thornberry was charged Monday by the Pennsylvania attorney general, but has yet to be arrested.