ILLINOIS
MySuburbanLife
Dave Heitz, dheitz@mysuburbanlife.com
Posted: 03/19/2012
The Rev. Gerald Riva has received many accolades during his long tenure at St. Scholastica Catholic Church in Woodridge, where he has served as pastor since 1999.
Among them is a 2007 Outstanding Citizen of the Year award from the Village of Woodridge. Then this winter he was named a “2012 Distinguished Pastor” by the National Catholic Education Association. He was one of only 10 pastors nationwide to win the award, which honors pastors who have given “outstanding support to Catholic elementary education.”
But according to court and police records, the 70-year-old Riva has a criminal past.
In 1992, Riva pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of public indecency after he grabbed the male genitals of a DuPage County Forest Preserve officer in a forest preserve in Winfield Township.
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