12 Pueblo Priests Named in Colorado Attorney General's Latest Child Sexual Abuse Report

By Robert Boczkiewicz
Pueblo Chieftain
December 1, 2020

https://www.chieftain.com/story/news/2020/12/01/pueblo-priests-named-colorado-child-sexual-abuse-report/3783126001/

DENVER — Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser released a report Tuesday listing new "substantiated" incidents of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Pueblo Diocese.

All of the newly substantiated incidents occurred between 1951 and 1999, he said. Some of the priests were identified in the attorney general's first report last year; four are newly identified.

The newly substantiated claims included in Tuesday's supplemental report concluded 22 months of former U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer’s work investigating and reporting on a 70-year history of Catholic clergy child sexual abuse in Colorado and the Colorado dioceses’ programs and systems for preventing it. Troyer worked for Weiser on the child abuse investigation.

The priests identified in Tuesday's report include Monsignor Marvin Kapushion, Gary Kennedy, Daniel Maio, John Martin, Duane Repola, Carlos Trujillo, Joseph Walsh, Lawrence Sievers, John Beno, Delbert Blong, Andrew Burke, and William Gleeson.

They served parishes, an orphanage and other Catholic facilities in Pueblo, Rye, La Junta, Walsenburg, Capulin, Grand Junction and Montrose.

Many of them are dead or no longer in the clergy. The Catholic Bishops of Colorado issued a statement pointing out that the abuse instances occurred more than 20 years ago.

The victims, who were girls and boys, said priests sexually abused them in rectories, churches, swimming pools, vehicles, motels, homes and in a bishop's mountain cabin.

The report shows all Colorado dioceses have made meaningful reforms to protect children, Weiser said.

The reports from last year and Tuesday also included the dioceses of Colorado Springs and Denver.

Seventy-seven victims were paid more than $7.3 million as a result of an agreement between the state’s three Catholic dioceses and the attorney general’s office, the Colorado Sun reported.

"From the time we announced this program in February 2019, our goals were to support and comfort survivors of childhood sexual abuse by Catholic priests, and to bring meaningful change to how the Colorado dioceses protect children from sexual abuse," the attorney general said.

"It takes incredible fortitude for victims of sexual abuse to come forward and tell their stories, and they are the heroes of this effort,” Weiser said. “I recognize there isn’t one program or dollar amount that can make up for the trauma that many have been through in their lives, but my sincerest hope is that this unique Colorado program has allowed survivors of sexual abuse by a priest to take one more step on the path to healing and recovery.”

Sixteen of the 46 newly reported victims in the Pueblo and Denver dioceses were abused after the relevant diocese already knew that the priest was a child sex abuser, he said. Only one of the 46 incidents of abuse was not reported to law enforcement, even though Colorado law required such a report when the victim first came forward in 2006.

The supplemental report does not include victims who reported directly to a diocese but not to the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program (IRRP) or the attorney general’s office, nor allegations of abuse by religious-order priests, church volunteers, or employees other than ordained priests.

Some victims who reported their abuse to the IRRP chose not to repeat their stories for inclusion in the supplemental report.