No Charges for St. Paul Archdiocese Leaders in Abuse Case

By Associated Press
St. Cloud Times
January 29, 2014

http://www.sctimes.com/viewart/20140129/NEWS02/301290026/No-charges-St-Paul-archdiocese-leaders-abuse-case

Curtis Carl Wehmeyer, the former pastor of The Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, appears in this photo provided by the Minnesota Department of Corrections. / AP

[with video]

ST. PAUL — Prosecutors in Minnesota declined Wednesday to charge leaders of the Minneapolis-St. Paul archdiocese over their handling of an abusive priest, but they said the archdiocese needs to do better in its reporting of abuse claims.

Ramsey County prosecutor John Choi said there was insufficient evidence to show church officials failed to properly report suspicions of abuse by the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, a St. Paul priest accused in 2012 of molesting two brothers.

Still, he said, investigations into other matters surrounding allegations of abuse by priests in the archdiocese are ongoing.

In a separate case, Washington County prosecutors said they would not charge another archdiocesan priest, the Rev. Jon Shelley, who had been accused of possessing child pornography.

The Wehmeyer and Shelley cases were among several that raised questions about the archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases after a church insider went public with her concerns. Internal documents showed that church leaders knew Wehmeyer had issues with sexual misconduct, including at least two solicitations of men for sex, before he was promoted to lead Church of the Blessed Sacrament in 2009.

Archbishop John Nienstedt apologized last fall for his handling of Wehmeyer, saying he didn’t suspect he was a threat to children. Wehmeyer is now serving a five-year sentence.

In a statement Wednesday, the archdiocese said it is grateful for the investigation, and it continues to cooperate with authorities. The archdiocese also said it trains its employees and volunteers that it is not their role to investigate abuse allegations and that any suspected abuse should be reported to authorities.

As the scandal around the archdiocese grew last fall, Nienstedt appointed a task force to examine church policies on abusive priests and ordered an external review of all priest files. He has also apologized to the archdiocese’s more than 800,000 Catholics. Nienstedt himself has been accused of improperly touching a boy while posing for a photo during a confirmation ceremony, a claim he vehemently denied.

Despite those moves, St. Paul police earlier complained of foot-dragging by archdiocese officials in responding to their efforts to get information.

“I continue to be troubled by some of the church’s reporting practices,” Choi said Wednesday. “Elaboration on that point is for another day.”

In Washington County, prosecutor Pete Orput said investigators found no evidence of a crime when they examined computer files that once belonged to Shelley. St. Paul police reopened the case last year after receiving new information, including three computer discs that contained images from Shelley’s old hard drive.

Orput said investigators from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, St. Paul police and his own child abuse specialist all looked at the files and agreed they are not child pornography. Even if they were, he says, the statute of limitations has expired.