CALIFORNIA
Patch
By Shannon Burkey
A shocking 27-page narrative written by a Boulder Creek resident who is a defrocked Franciscan priest and a convicted child molester detailing his abuse was released last week.
Robert Van Handel, 65, is accused of molesting at least 17 boys, including his 5-year-old nephew, according to the Associated Press, who obtained more than 4,000 pages, including Van Handel’s 27-page narrative, from a plaintiff’s attorney last week.
The documents are the first of their kind to be released to the public and graphically detail Van Handel’s history of abuse with young boys during his time teaching at a seminary high school in Santa Barbara and running a boy’s choir in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s.
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