Louisville priest who ran summer camp faces sex abuse trial

KENTUCKY
Daily Progress

By DYLAN LOVAN

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Louisville priest is set to go on trial on sexual abuse charges nearly 15 years after allegations first surfaced from a man who said he was molested by the priest at a Catholic summer camp in the 1970s.

The Rev. Joseph Hemmerle will face sexual abuse and sodomy charges at the trial beginning Monday in Meade County, where he ran the boys summer camp for decades.

Hemmerle is facing another trial in April over similar abuse allegations from a second alleged victim who attended Camp Tall Trees as a child.

The first allegations against Hemmerle were brought by Michael Norris in a 2001 letter Norris wrote to Hemmerle and Louisville archdiocese officials. His letter was sent just months before a slew of plaintiffs sued the archdiocese, alleging sexual abuse by dozens of priests. The archdiocese settled a class action lawsuit with 243 plaintiffs in 2003 for more than $25 million, but Norris never joined the suit.

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