NEW JERSEY
The Village Green
BY: MARY MANN
Officials report that Fr. Michael Walters, a priest who formerly worked as an assistant pastor at Our Lady of Sorrow Church in South Orange and who has recently been accused of sexual misconduct with minors at another parish in the 1980s, had no role in the school there and no contact with students.
Media outlets reported earlier this month that Fr. Walters was removed from his ministry at the church in October amid allegations that he sexually assaulted two minors in the early 1980s.
Walters, 60, denies the allegations and reportedly left the ministry by “mutual agreement” with the Archdiocese of Newark.
David Ohlmuller, 46, told NJ.com that Walters fondled him, kissed him and offered him wine on various occasions in 1982, when Ohlmuller was 12 and a parishioner at St. Cassian Church in Montclair, NJ. A second accuser, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that Walters molested her during the same time period when she was 13 and 14. Both are being represented by Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented hundreds of accusers in the sexual abuse scandal that has engulfed the Catholic Church in recent years.
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.