MINNESOTA
Crookston Times
By Jess Bengtson
Posted Nov. 22, 2013
Crookston, Minn.
At a news conference Thursday in the lobby of the Polk County Justice Center in Crookston, sexual abuse attorney Jeff Anderson announced the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of a man known as “Doe 19.”
Anderson, along with Lonna Hunter, an advocate for Native children, told the story of Doe 19, whom they said was sexually abused by Father James Vincent Fitzgerald at St. Anne’s Parish in Naytahwaush. The lawsuit names the Diocese of Crookston and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate alleging their negligence in placing Fitzgerald in parishes and communities where he had access to children even after learning that Fitzgerald was a child molester. This is the first time Fitzgerald’s name has been publicly released in Minnesota.
Fitzgerald, who is now deceased, was employed by the Diocese of Crookston from 1973 to 1978. During this time, he allegedly abused a minor male. The lawsuit claims the defendants knew or should have known about the abuse. The Diocese of Crookston placed Fitzgerald at St. Anne’s Parish on the White Earth Indian Reservation in Naytahwaush in the mid-1980s. Doe 19 claims the abuse happened in 1984 when he was between 8 and 9-years-old.
The current lawsuit, along with another involving “Jane Doe 4” of Bemidji and the late Father James Porter, requests the release of names of credibly accused and admitted child molesters from the Diocese of Crookston. The Diocese allegedly compiled a list of five priests who had credible accusations of abuse against them.
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