OMAHA (NE)
News Channel Nebraska [Omaha NE]
January 14, 2022
By Joe Jordan
Already facing up to 24 years in prison for allegedly stealing thousands in Douglas County, Father Michael Gutgsell now faces another 20 years for a second suspected theft case, this one in Sarpy County.
More potential jail time for a once high-ranking Omaha priest charged in two separate theft cases and also linked to several other priests named in a recent state investigation of widespread sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.
Already facing up to 24 years in prison for allegedly stealing thousands in Douglas County, Father Michael Gutgsell now faces another 20 years for a second suspected theft case, this one in Sarpy County.
The 73-year-old former Chancellor in the Omaha Archdiocese is accused of stealing $96,000 from Saint Joseph Church in Springfield, Gutgsell’s last church assignment.
Before that he was charged with raiding the bank account of another priest to the tune of at least $155,000.
As News Channel Nebraska first reported, Gutgsell’s name is also prominent in the Nebraska Attorney General’s recent 174 page “Report on Clergy Sexual Abuse.”
According to the report, when he was Chancellor —one of the top five leadership posts in the Archdiocese— as Gutgsell listened to at least seven accusations of sexual abuse committed by three different priests in the Omaha diocese, Gutsgell dismissed the accusations, which went unreported to authorities for at least a year.
Gutgsell’s attorney has repeatedly had no comment.