BATON ROUGE (LA)
The Advocate
January 27, 2019
The Diocese of Baton Rouge is expected on Thursday to release a list of priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Ahead of the release, The Advocate tracked every known allegation of abuse involving a Baton Rouge priest. Here’s what we found.
How many known priests have been accused of sexual abuse?
At least 15 priests who have served in the Diocese of Baton Rouge were accused of sexual abuse. Half were named when the Archdiocese of New Orleans released its list, two more were on a list of accused Jesuit priests and the remaining five have been the subject of civil suits or criminal charges involving sexual misconduct.
How many known victims are there?
Upward of 60 victims say they were abused by priests who spent time in Baton Rouge, though we may never know the full number. Two priests accused of abuse especially drove up the victim count. At least 30 people accused through lawsuits one Baton Rouge priest, Christopher Springer, of abuse. And a lawyer who represented people who said they were abused by Gerard “Jerry” Howell estimated Howell had 25 to 50 victims.
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