MINNESOTA
Los Angeles Times
By TINA SUSMAN
Prosecutors in Minneapolis announced charges Friday against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, saying clergy there caused “unspeakable harm” to young victims of sexual abuse at the hands of a former priest.
The priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, is serving a five-year prison term for sexually abusing boys while he was a pastor in St. Paul.
The charges are against a corporation — the diocese — not an individual, meaning nobody will face jail time, but the archdiocese could face fines. The charges, misdemeanors, allege that the archdiocese as a whole failed to protect children, and Ramsey County Atty. John Choi said they stem from its handling of Wehmeyer.
At a news conference on Friday, Choi said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to charge specific individuals, but he said church officials in general opted to protect priests at the expense of children.
“The allegations reveal a disturbing way in which this organization said it protected children when in reality it did not,” he said.
The charges come after a 20-month investigation led by police and county prosecutors into the handling of clergy abuse by the archdiocese. The probe was sparked by Wehmeyer’s arrest in 2012 on sexual abuse charges.
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