SOUTH DAKOTA
Press and Dakotan
BY RANDY DOCKENDORF randy.dockendorf@yankton.net
Minnesota authorities are not pursuing a criminal investigation into a sex-abuse allegation against a Roman Catholic priest currently serving two Bon Homme County parishes.
The Rev. Joe Forcelle faces the Minnesota allegation based earlier in his ministry. He currently serves St. Leo Church in Tyndall and St. Vincent Church in Springfield. He denies the Minnesota allegation and has not faced any allegations during his 32-year ministry in South Dakota.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against Forcelle and immediately reported it to law enforcement, according to archdiocesan spokesman Tom Halden.
“The alleged sexual abuse is from the late 1970s and early 1980s when (Forcelle) was serving as a priest at Saint Mark Church in Saint Paul,” Halden said in a statement.
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