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  Church Continues to Investigate Menlo Park Pastor Who Followed Teen into Dressing Room

By Diana Samuels
Mercury News
July 15, 2011

http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_18481920?nclick_check=1

Although the Catholic Church is continuing to investigate whether a Menlo Park pastor committed a "boundary violation" with a teenage boy, prosecutors say they will not press criminal charges.

The Rev. William Myers was suspended from his post at St. Raymond Parish in late May after the Archdiocese of San Francisco learned he had allegedly followed a 17-year-old boy into a dressing room stall at a Ross Dress For Less store in San Francisco.

The boy's father immediately intervened and no physical contact between Myers and the boy occurred, church officials said. But the case is being reviewed by the archdiocese's Independent Review Board, which investigates sexual abuse incidents.

San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Seth Steward confirmed Thursday no criminal charges would be filed. A "lack of corroboration" about what happened is the main reason prosecutors did not press charges, Steward said. He didn't elaborate. In June, police said it appeared no crime had occurred.

Meanwhile, the Independent Review Board is expected to meet in the next few days to continue its review, archdiocese spokesman George Wesolek said. Myers currently lives in San Francisco.

Wesolek said the board will take into account the fact that the district attorney's office did not press charges. Its discussion likely will focus on whether Myers' behavior violated church standards and whether he should be allowed to serve as a priest again.

"The issue for them is, 'Why are you following a young man into a dressing room?'" Wesolek said.

Regardless of the outcome, Myers definitely will not return to St. Raymond, Wesolek said.

"There's too much that has gone on," he said. "It would be very difficult to reintegrate him there, so that's just not going to happen."

St. Raymond is "moving on" and doing well under the administration of Monsignor Harry Schlitt, Wesolek said. A new pastor likely will be named this fall.

"I think most of the anger is diffused there," Wesolek said. "The concerns that there were -- about are there other people involved or other victims -- none of that has taken place, so that's all good."

Email Diana Samuels at dsamuels@dailynewsgroup.com

 
 

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