Predator Priest Is Sentenced; Victims Respond

SNAP
October 28, 2016

http://www.snapnetwork.org/wi_predator_priest_is_sentenced_victims_respond

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

[ Bay priest has been sentenced for exposing himself to a child. We applaud law enforcement for pursuing this case and the brave teenager who reported this predator. http:]

We also call on Wisconsin Catholic officials to spread the word about Fr. Richard Thomas’ crime and beg others with information or suspicions about ties to predator – or other sex offender clerics – to call police and prosecutors promptly.

We hope law enforcement either has or will investigate whether any of Fr. Tomas’ supervisors or colleagues knew of or suspected his crimes and concealed or ignored them.

No matter what lawmakers or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com), Barbara Dorris(314-503-0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

Priest sentenced to jail for exposing himself

Associated Press | Posted: Friday, October 28, 2016

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A retired priest from the Green Bay diocese has been sentenced to four months in jail for exposing himself to a child.

Father Richard Thomas will serve his time in the Brown County Jail. He has also been given three years of supervised release following his jail sentence and he must register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors say the 78-year-old priest exposed . . .