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  Diocese Bankruptcy: Man Continues to Battle to Collect Judgment

By Ann McGlynn
Quad-City Times
February 12, 2008

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/02/12/news/local/doc47b13d57d2f9a606559820.txt

The sister of a defrocked priest ordered by a judge to hand over assets to her nephew to satisfy a $1.4 million judgment against her brother is appealing the decision, as well as an injunction issued freezing her finances.

Dorothy Janssen, 4315 W. High St., Davenport, was ordered to hand over her house, her car and more than $350,000 in cash and bonds to James Wells in a January ruling by Scott County District Court Judge Mary Howes. The judge found Dorothy Janssen helped James Janssen hide his assets after the first of several lawsuits alleging sex abuse

was filed.

Wells was abused by James Janssen for several years as a child.

She has yet to hand over the assets. Wells and his attorneys, Craig Levien and Ben Yeggy, requested the court issue a temporary injunction freezing Dorothy Janssen's assets.

Specifically, they were concerned about at least $60,000 in bonds cashed by Dorothy Janssen in July and re-issued to family and friends, including another nephew, David Wear, and a priest, Raymond Ruppenkamp. The bonds, they believed, were to be transferred back to Dorothy Janssen.

A hand-written document James Janssen handed over before he headed to the Scott County Jail on a contempt charge in his own case shows six people received $10,000 each in bonds in July. However, Ruppenkamp told Levien he was given $20,000, Levien said. Ruppenkamp, who is retired and lives in Clinton, Iowa, failed to come to the hearing on the injunction despite a subpoena.

Other bonds were issued to Thomas Abel of Del Mar, Calif.; James Wilkinson of Sandy, Utah; Jason Wilkinson, with a listed address of Dorothy and James Janssen's home in Davenport; and Christopher Bunce of Park View, Iowa.

The court ordered Dorothy Janssen's assets to be frozen, with the exception of $15,000 to allow for an appeal. It also required she provide waivers for Wells to determine information about any accounts, bonds or other assets, a listing of all accounts held by her since May 2003, a complete list of all property and cash. It also ordered $140,000 worth of bonds held by her attorney, Mike McCarthy, turned over to Wells within

30 days.

The court found Dorothy Janssen "is engaged in a pattern of deceit, deception and fraudulent transfers in order to prevent the plaintiff from collecting on the judgment …"

James Janssen remains in the Scott County Jail, serving a 180-day sentence for contempt for failure to hand over $80,000 in bonds.

The two cashed more than $700,000 in bonds after the first lawsuit was filed against James Janssen.

Ann McGlynn can be contacted at (563) 383-2336 or Contact: amcglynn@qctimes.com

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