BELLEVILLE (IL)
Madison County Record
August 8, 2019
By John Breslin
The Catholic Diocese of Belleville is accused of allowing a priest to be alone with children, one of whom he allegedly abused.
A man identified only as John Doe filed the lawsuit July in St. Clair County Circuit Court, alleging Joseph Schwaegel abused him when he was six years old at Catholic Grade School in Bellville some time after August 1987. Schwaegel was allegedly a senior member of the diocese at the time and was involved in investigations of sexual misconduct by other clergy.
The Diocese of Belleville was not able to immediately respond to the lawsuit.
Schwaegel, who died in 2016, is accused of first gaining the plaintiff’s trust, then taking him out of class and abusing him on property owned by the diocese.
The plaintiff alleges the diocese failed to prevent Schwaegel from being alone with children and failing to monitor and supervise his activities.
This is the second lawsuit that names Schwaegel as an abuser of minors. The first, filed in 1999, was settled out of court.
Schwaegel, who was removed from ministry in 1994, admitted publicly he was a “sex addict” but denied any inappropriate sexual behavior involving minors.
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