WISCONSIN/ILLINOIS
Fox 6
April 28, 2013, by Katie DeLong
MILWAUKEE/ANTIOCH (WITI) — A judge has set bail at $50,000 for a Benedictine monk from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee accused of trying to abduct a 14-year-old girl in Antioch, Illinois.
Police arrested Thomas Chmura on Friday, April 26th after seeing him stop his car in the middle of traffic to talk to three women on the sidewalk.
Police say Chmura was driving next to the girl on Thursday night when he asked her to get into his car. After his arrest, officers say Chmura admitted he approached the girl for purposes of sexual gratification.
SNAP, the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests is reacting to charges filed against Chmura.
In a statement, SNAP’s Director, John Pilmaier says: “Thomas Chmura, a Benedictine monk assigned in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee was arrested on Thursday for attempting to abduct a 14-year-old girl in Antioch, Illinois. Chmura informed police that he approached the child because he wanted sexual gratification. He further admitted to law enforcement officials that he had attempted similar child abductions up to 10 times in the past six weeks.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.