ALASKA
The Associated Press
December 17, 2018
By Aaron Sankin, Emily Schwing and Michael Corey
An investigation has found that, for more than three decades, Cardinal Bea House on the Spokane campus served as a retirement repository for at least 20 Jesuit priests accused of sexual misconduct, most of which took place in Alaska Native villages and on Indian reservations across the Northwest.
On the surface, Father James Poole seemed like the cool priest in Nome, Alaska. He founded a Catholic mission radio station that broadcast his Jesuit sermons alongside contemporary pop hits. A 1978 story in People magazine called Poole “Western Alaska’s Hippest DJ . Comin’ at Ya with Rock’n’Roll ‘n’ Religion.”
Behind the radio station’s closed doors, Poole was a serial sexual predator. He abused at least 20 women and girls, according to court documents. At least one was 6 years old. One Alaska Native woman says he impregnated her when she was 16, then forced her to get an abortion and blame her father for raping her. Her father went to prison.
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.