Lawsuit claims Catholic youth minister sexually abused teen in St. Louis County

By Joel Currier
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
May 10, 2017

https://goo.gl/iDOwf9

Morning sunlight bathes the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis early on Jan. 24, 2013. Photo by Erik M. Lunsford

ST. LOUIS COUNTY • A former Catholic youth minister at the Immacolata School in Richmond Heights sexually abused a teenage girl there more than 13 years ago, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

“Jane Doe” accuses Kris D. Wilks, a former St. Louis County man who now lives in Pueblo, Colo., of sexually abusing her at the school at 8900 Clayton Road between September 2003 and March 2004 when she was 16.

She is now 30; Wilks is 36.

The suit claims that at the time of the abuse, Wilks was an Immacolata School youth minister and an “employee or agent” of Life Teen Inc., a Eucharistic-centered nonprofit founded in 1985 that serves students in hundreds of Catholic parishes around the country.

Life Teen president Randy Raus said Wilks had never been an employee or an agent of Life Teen, which does not participate in the hiring of local parish youth ministers.

In addition to naming Wilks and Life Teen as defendants, the suit also accuses the St. Louis Archdiocese and the Immacolata School of negligence and concealment of the alleged abuse. Raus said Life Teen had no knowledge of any alleged wrongdoing by Wilks and did not take part in any cover-up. A spokesman for the archdiocese said it did not comment on pending litigation. None of the others could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Wilks “groomed and manipulated” her, the suit claims. It wasn’t until undergoing therapy in 2014 that she realized her relationship with Wilks “was not a normal romantic relationship between a boyfriend and girlfriend, but was child sexual abuse.”

It also claims several employees of Life Teen, the school and the archdiocese knew Wilks sexually abused the teen and didn’t try to stop it or report it.

The alleged abuse led to mental health problems, an eating disorder, drug use, suicide attempts and other psychological problems, the suit says. The plaintiff seeks more than $25,000.