Police say 37-year-old Gordon Ellis attacked the 400-pound black basalt monument outside St. Joseph's Church in Mendham on Friday night. Ellis is charged with defacement of private property, desecration of a venerated object and criminal mischief.
Police don't have a motive.
The memorial was dedicated in 2004 near the rectory that was home to a priest who was defrocked and admitted molesting about a dozen children at St. Joseph's and other parishes.
Monsignor Joseph Anginoli tells The Daily Record of Parsippany the memorial would be replaced but probably not in its previous form.
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Information from: Daily Record, http://www.dailyrecord.com
