MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For more information: David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, bblaine@snapnetwork.org)
Convicted cleric is sentenced tomorrow
He was in St. Louis a few years ago, SNAP says
He’s the first US abusive cleric sent back to Australia
In April, he pled guilty to repeatedly abusing two girls
A month later, he was found guilty of also molesting a boy
He’s part of controversial St. Louis-based Catholic religious order
It runs two high profile schools in the county and one in the city
A child molesting cleric who spent time here and works for a St. Louis-based Catholic group will be sentenced this week for child sex crimes. He’s believed to be the first abusive US cleric to ever be extradited to Australia.
Brother Bernard Joseph Hartman belongs to the Central West End-based Marianists, a religious order that runs three local high schools: Chaminade, Vianney and St. Mary’s.
In May, a jury in Melbourne found him guilty of molesting a boy. The month before, in Melbourne, he pled guilty of molesting two girls. (One said he violated her with a turkey baster.)
As recently as 20 12, Hartman was on the job in Dayton Ohio working near a parochial school though he apologized in writing more than a decade earlier to a girl he molested.
Later that year, Australian journalist Brendan Roberts of Australia’s Nine Network and a cameraman spent several days in St. Louis trying to track down Hartman. Dayton parishioners told Roberts that Hartman was living at a church property in St. Louis.
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