Fr. Earl Charles Bierman

Ordained: 1957
Status: Convicted

Died: 06/13/2005
Diocese: Diocese of Covington KY

First complaints received in 1961. May have abused 100s of boys. Long time Covington Latin School faculty member; Diocese knew when he arrived at the school in 1968 that he had abused at least 50 boys. In and out of treatment, including Jemez Springs, NM in the Santa Fe diocese, where he was allowed to work at a parish and minor seminary. Assigned 1975-1976 to St. Francis Seminary in the Altoona-Johnstown, PA diocese. Faculties removed 7/9/1992. Arrested in 11/1992, charged with sodomizing a boy, age 15, in 1974. Allowed to live at the Diocese’s Catholic Center until arrested in 2/1993 for threatening to kill a journalist who was a former student. Convicted in 1993 of abuse of six boys; received a 20-year sentence. Died in prison 6/13/2005. Sued in KY and NM. One case in 1995 went to a jury verdict of $700K in punitive damages after the Diocese was accused of failing to reveal abuse of other victims. Another suit settled in 2003. Suit filed in Albuquerque in 5/2016 claiming abuse in 1963-1964 of a 15-year-old boy. Included on the Santa Fe archdiocese list 9/12/2017. On the Covington diocese’s 7/31/2020 list.

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