MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
[with audio]
Madeleine Baran · St. Paul, Minn. · Jan 29, 2014
Archbishop John Nienstedt did not immediately report to police allegations that the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer sexually abused a child, according to a document obtained Wednesday by MPR News that the archbishop signed in 2012.
The document — a formal decree signed by Nienstedt to comply with church law — says the archdiocese knew of the allegations on June 18. Yet police reports show the archdiocese didn’t report the claims to police until two days later.
The revelation came hours after Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a news conference that he was declining to file any charges for failure to report Wehmeyer’s abuse to police, and after St. Paul Police Chief Thomas Smith said that officers lacked probable cause for a subpoena or search warrant that would force the archdiocese to turn over all of its files. The law requires a priest to report suspected child abuse within 24 hours unless he learned the information as part of confession.
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