BishopAccountability.org
 
  Former Priest Found Guilty of Sex Abuse 30 Years Later; Victim Feels Vindicated

WHAS
July 14, 2011

http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Forme-125595443.html

[with video]

Vindication after 30 years for local man, after former priest found guilty of sex abuse.

Vindication after 30 years of suppressed memories, which ate away at him and ruined his life; that's how one local man describes the lingering pain from sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a Tennessee catholic priest.

On Thursday, that priest was found guilty.

William Casey was found guilty of one count of first-degree sexual misconduct and two counts of aggravated rape. This started in the late 70s/early 80's when Warren Tucker lived in Tennessee. He was just 13-years-old. Tucker now lives in Jeffersonville and WHAS 11’s Adrianna Hopkins talked to him last year when he first filed the charges against Casey. He said he didn't know if Casey would ever be held accountable for his actions.

"Failed marriage after failed marriage, failed friendship after failed friendship, failed businesses…depression, anxiety," said Warren Tucker.

WHAS11 first talked to Warren Tucker last April. He described the downward spiral of his life, 30 years after William Casey first sexually abused him. He spent this week in a Sullivan County, Tennessee courtroom, recounting the details of that abuse to a jury.

He testified in court that Casey raped him twice at the rectory of St. Dominic's Catholic Church where Casey once lived and a third time at Tucker's mobile home. Cal Pfieffer, one of Tucker's supporters and a member of the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests, says testifying was incredibly hard for Tucker.

"It was very difficult. He's never been on the witness stand. Perpetrator, fellow raped, sitting next to him,” he said.

The prosecution played a police recorded conversation between Tucker and Casey. In the conversation Tucker alludes to the past sexual abuse, and Casey never denies it. Tucker also says Casey had a sexual relationship with his mother. Tucker never told anyone, believing Casey when he threatened to hurt his mother if told and said, 'no one will believe you.'

"I was stunned, no one would believe me,” Tucker testified.

But now, 30 years later, a jury believed him beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville says they hope this conviction brings healing to Tucker.

When Tucker first came forward with his story the Diocese issued a suspension decree to Casey - permanently suspending him from priestly ministry and removing his priestly faculties, and decreed that he could not present himself as a priest. For example, could not use the clerical title "Father," wear clerical garb, or act in any priestly capacity.

 
 

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