MONTANA
Billings Gazette
By SUSAN OLP solp@billingsgazette.com
The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings should not use an off-duty police officer to investigate claims of sexual abuse by priests, a victims advocacy group said Tuesday.
Two members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, visited Billings to make a case against the practice. The pair spoke Tuesday morning in front of St. Patrick Co-Cathedral.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest associate director, and Steven Spaner, SNAP Australia coordinator, both from the St. Louis area, talked about the issue that came up in a civil suit recently filed against the diocese.
The civil suit, filed Feb. 8 in Great Falls, includes 10 plaintiffs. The only named plaintiff, Timothy Becker, alleged that the Rev. Ted Szudera abused him in 1978 and 1979 while Szudera was a priest in Livingston.
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