Ypsilanti Priest Resigns Amid Sexual Harassment Investigation, Catholic Diocese Says

By Gus Burns
Saginaw News
May 2, 2019

https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/05/ypsilanti-priest-resigns-amid-sexual-harassment-investigation-catholic-diocese-says.html

A St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish priest in Ypsilanti has resigned amid claims he sexually harassed a female colleague, the Catholic Diocese of Lansing says.

Rev. Robert Robbenbuck was placed on medical leave in February. The Lansing Diocese announced Roggenbuck’s resignation April 1.

“After his departure on Feb. 13, 2019, in the course of a diocesan inquiry at the parish, an adult female coworker made a credible claim of sexual harassment against him,” the Lansing Diocese said. “Rev. Roggenbuck has not been accused of harming any minors. While no crime has been alleged, the Diocese of Lansing has reported this claim to the Michigan Attorney General.”

Initiated by former Attorney General Bill Schuette, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s is continuing a probe into alleged priest sex abuse across Michigan’s seven Dioceses.

Details of the behavior that led to Roggenbuck’s resignation weren’t revealed.

“All diocesan staff are bound by a code of conduct requiring all priests, employees and lay ministers to uphold Catholic values as they lead the faithful to be more perfect disciples of Jesus Christ,” the Diocese said.

The Lansing Diocese in March announced that Rev. Patrick Egan of Christ the King Catholic Church in Ann Arbor Township “had his priestly faculties removed" related to “inappropriate sexual behavior with an adult male.”

A Saginaw priest, Robert Deland, was sentenced last month to between two and 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct causing injury and gross indecency between males. Deland was found not guilty of attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct and second-degree criminal sexual conduct in a separate case.