MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Roewe | Jun. 5, 2015
The Ramsey County prosecutor has brought multiple criminal charges against the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese “for its failure to protect children” in relation to former priest Curtis Wehmeyer.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced at a midday press conference Friday six charges related to three victims of sexual abuse linked to Wehmeyer, who is in jail serving a five-year sentence after he pleaded guilty in November 2012 to three felony counts of criminal sexual misconduct with two minors and 17 felony counts of possession of child pornography.
The charges — all gross misdemeanors with possible fines, according to reports out of the press conference — include three counts of contributing to the need for protection or services and three counts of contributing to status as a juvenile petty offender or delinquency. In addition, Choi brought a civil petition against the archdiocese alleging that because of conduct related to the criminal charges, the archdiocese contributed to the need for protection or services of children.
The county attorney told local media that at this stage, there is not currently sufficient evidence to bring charges against individual church officials.
“Today, we are alleging a disturbing institutional and systemic pattern of behavior committed by the highest levels of leadership of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis over the course of decades,” Choi said in a statement.
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.