SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Salt Lake Tribune
October 9, 2020
By Courtney Tanner
A former Roman Catholic priest, currently in prison for sexually abusing students in Oklahoma and Michigan, faces new allegations of molesting a child while he was overseeing a Utah parish and adjoining school here in the 1970s.
In a lawsuit filed late Wednesday, a now 60-year-old man said he was repeatedly abused and threatened by church leader James Rapp while he was attending second grade at St. Ann School in Kearns. And, he said, the church knew about and “intentionally concealed” the assaults at the time.
“There was a cover-up, and that’s a big problem,” added Eric Olson, the man’s attorney.
Rapp has previously been sued for similar allegations at Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City. And he appeared on a list released by the diocese here in 2018 of priests “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct with minors. But, despite that, formal charges have never been brought against him in Utah, and the earlier lit was dismissed without a trial after a judge determined too much time had passed since the alleged abuse.
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