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Joliet Diocese Settles Victims’ Abuse Claims Against ‘Savage, Scary’ Priests for Over $4M
By DENNIS ROBAUGH (Patch National Staff)
April 15, 2015
In February 2006, a judge allowed transcripts of depositions involving the Joliet Diocese to be made public. Bishop Joseph Imesch’s deposition, conducted on Aug. 11, 2005, included details about how he handled priests accused of misconduct involving young boys. Imesch retired in June 2006.
The deposition was conducted by attorney Jeff Anderson, a Minneapolis attorney who specializes in clergy abuse cases, and focused on the actions of the Rev. Gary Berthiaume, who was brought into the Joliet Diocese by Imesch in 1987 even after he was convicted of sexual abuse; his transfer of the Rev. Larry Gibbs; his handling of the Rev. Fred Lenczycki, convicted of molesting Hinsdale altar boys; the Rev. Ed Stefanich, convicted of molesting a Woodridge girl.
RE: REV. GARY BERTHIAUME
IMESCH: “As far as I can remember I think Gary admitted to me that he had done it before the conviction.”
ANDERSON: “If he had told you that he had committed the offense against the child, isn’t that evidence of the crime?”
IMESCH: “That’s a job for the police. I’m not going to get involved in that. That’s not my responsibility.”
RE: REV. LARRY GIBBS, accused in police reports of skinny dipping with boys and playing nude games
ANDERSON: “And when you put him in that parish you didn’t alert the parishioners where you assigned him that he had had a credible allegation of sexual abuse, did you?”
IMESCH: “I don’t think that’s a credible allegation if nothing was charged.”
IMESCH: “Well, I think what happened happened. It was not considered a crime or a criminal activity so there was no reason for me not to transfer him.”
ANDERSON: “It is correct to say that you knowingly continued priests in ministry until the charter required their removal and you knew that credible allegations had been made against those clergymen, correct?”
IMESCH: “Yes.”
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