I-Team: Former altar boy details alleged sexual contact by Buffalo Diocesan priest

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

March 26, 2018

By Charlie Specht

As Holy Week begins, the Catholic sexual abuse scandal that has exploded in the Diocese of Buffalo now reaches an active priest.

The Rev. Dennis Riter, current pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Dunkirk, was put on administrative leave by Bishop Richard Malone this afternoon, the bishop’s spokesman told the 7 Eyewitness News I-Team

Riter’s removal comes as a 7 Eyewitness News investigation was about to break in which two former altar boys or their families came forward to allege inappropriate sexual contact by the priest when he served at a church in Buffalo’s Old First Ward in the 1990s.

Riter presided yesterday at the church’s Palm Sunday service, more than two weeks after an altar boy reached out to the diocese’s victim assistance hotline to report abuse he said occurred decades ago. It was the second time Father Riter was accused of abuse.

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