Police Raided Catholic Diocese in Saginaw in Ongoing Sex Abuse Investigation

MLive
March 22, 2018

http://www.themorningsun.com/article/MS/20180322/NEWS/180329834

Police raided two Catholic Diocese of Saginaw properties and the home of Bishop Joseph Cistone on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into sexual abuse in the church.

Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Mark Gaertner said he cannot say what officers were searching for and what they took from the properties, but confirmed the search warrants executed Thursday are related to a lack of cooperation by the diocese which includes Clare, Gratiot and Isabella counties, as reported by MLive/Saginaw News.

“Contrary to the statements of the diocese and the bishop that they would fully cooperate with law enforcement, they did not,” Gaertner said. “Therefore it was necessary for law enforcement to use other investigative tools, including search warrants.”

Search warrants were executed at the bishop’s home on Corral Drive in Saginaw, the rectory at Cathedral Of Mary Of The Assumption, 615 Hoyt, in Saginaw, and the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw offices in Saginaw Township, according to Gaertner.

To date, only one diocese priest, Rev. Robert DeLand, has been criminally charged. He was accused of sexually assaulting two males -- a 21-year-old and a 17-year-old -- in his Saginaw Township condominium.

Since DeLand’s Feb. 26 arrest, numerous tips and allegations about further sexual abuse dating back as far as three decades have flooded area police departments, investigators previously said. Among the tips were allegations against other clergymen.

Another diocese priest, Rev. Ronald J. Dombrowski, was recently suspended by the diocese after it received a report he allegedly sexually assaulted a person when they were a minor. He has not been criminally charged.

Earlier this month, the Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor’s Office formed a special investigative team to coordinate and investigate allegations of abuse involving “officials” within the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw.

Messages were left with the diocese by MLive/Saginaw News reporters seeking comment. Doors to the diocese office in Saginaw Township were closed. Saginaw Township police officers barred anyone from entering the building at 5800 Weiss St.

An MLive reporter went to the home of Cistone, knocked on the door and rang the doorbell, but the no one answered. A window near the door was broken out and glass was on the floor.

As of 1:30 p.m. Thursday, police remained at the diocese’s Saginaw Township office.

Beyond mid-Michigan, the diocese includes the counties of Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Gladwin, Midland, Tuscola, Huron and Sanilac.

Six years ago, Cistone was accused of misleading a grand jury by not acknowledging that he witnessed the shredding of documents that contained the names of priests suspected of child molestation in 1994 while he was serving as a church official in the Philadelphia area. He never faced any criminal charges in that case.