By Sue Lindsay
Rocky Mountain News [Denver ,CO]
July 10, 2007
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622226,00.html
Former foster parent and Episcopalian priest Donald Shissler sexually assaulted three young boys he lured to his home by turning it into a "Disneyland" full of fun, games and candy, a prosecutor told a Denver jury Monday.
The boys had the run of his home in the Baker neighborhood, which contained a pool table, hot tub, computer games, Nintendo, drawers full of candy and framed photos of naked young boys, prosecutor Kerri Lombardi said.
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| Schissler allegedly paraded nude before boys. |
"This Disneyland he created came at a high price. The cost of admission was their innocence and a sense of shame that would last a lifetime," she said. "They were mostly young Hispanic boys who were just on the cusp of their sexuality."
Once the boys were inside, Shissler, now 74, paraded around nude or wore thong underwear and instructed the boys to take off their clothes, Lombardi said. He measured and rubbed lotion on their penises and eventually engaged in sexual acts with them, she said. Some of the boys often spent the night at his home.
"It's natural. It's not a sin," Lombardi said Shissler told the boys. But while Shissler said what went on in his house was "normal," he also told the boys to keep it a secret, Lombardi said.
"For many years, they didn't tell," but one of the boys confided in 2002, opening the floodgates to other stories of victimization, Lombardi said.
Shissler is on trial for sexually assaulting three young boys, but Lombardi said he engaged in the conduct with others - including his adopted son - who will testify but are not named victims in the charges.
Lombardi said the boys' parents trusted Shissler.
Defense attorney Scott Reisch said the boys initially denied any improper conduct with Shissler but changed their stories under pressure from investigators.
He said that none of the alleged victims was a foster child under Shissler's care.
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