BishopAccountability.org
 
  'Most Dangerous Priest in America' Is Arrested
Molested 2 | Failed to Update His Sex Offender Record

By Shamus Toomey
Chicago Sun-Times
November 2, 2007

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/632347,CST-NWS-priest02.article

A Jesuit priest convicted last year of molesting two Loyola Academy students in the 1960s was taken into custody at a Wisconsin courthouse Thursday for failing to keep his sex offender registry information current, officials said.

The Rev. Donald McGuire, 77, had been out on bond and living in Oak Lawn since his conviction in Walworth County, Wis., for molesting the boys during retreats to the Lake Geneva area.

After a Walworth County hearing Thursday, McGuire was taken into custody on a Wisconsin Department of Corrections probation hold, county Undersheriff Kurt Picknell said.

McGuire will now sit in the county jail there while state officials investigate why he rebuffed repeated attempts to keep his sex offender registry information current as required, said John Dipko, spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

"We made a number of efforts to reach him and get the information current, verified and up to date. He did not respond," Dipko said.

The department sent letters and made phone calls to no avail, Dipko said.

Barbara Blaine, of the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests, attended Thursday's hearing and said McGuire showed no reaction when he was arrested. Sheriff's officials used a wheelchair to take him out of the courtroom. He had arrived at the courthouse using a walker, she said.

"McGuire is where he belongs," said Marc Pearlman, attorney for the abused Loyola students, as well as others who allege McGuire molested them. "The only way to keep children safe is to have this guy in prison."

Pearlman has called McGuire the "most dangerous priest in America," based on allegations lodged by a host of people, including two young men who say McGuire molested them as boys during confession. Last month, those men sued McGuire. One said the abuse happened as recently as 2002.

Lawyers also released letters this week they say show parents had tried to sound the alarm about McGuire as far back as 1969, but were ignored by the Jesuits.

Chicago's Jesuit order released a statement Monday apologizing for McGuire's actions and vowing to cooperate with law enforcement.

Contact: stoomey@suntimes.com

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.