Fr. Dennis L. Peterson

Ordained: 1973
Status: Sued

Died: 07/12/2007
Diocese: Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston TX

Accused in a civil lawsuit in 1999 of abusing a boy for 10 years, beginning when the boy was brought to him at age 14 for counseling related to abuse by a Catholic Boy Scout leader. Peterson was the Archdiocese’s Special Youth Services director and chaplain at a county juvenile detention home. Placed on leave, allowed to live at a parish. Two brothers and their sister also joined the suit, alleging abuse by Peterson in the 1970s. The suit was dismissed in 3/2000 due to the statute of limitations. In Fall 1999 the Harris County Grand Jury refused to indict Peterson on a charge that he sexually abused the original boy; the boy died at age 30 in 2003 of a drug overdose. Accused in a 2005 lawsuit of abusing and raping a 7th grade boy in 1983. Peterson was laicized in 2005; allowed to live at a priests’ retirement home. Died 7/12/2007. Included on the archdiocese’s list of credibly accused 1/31/2019. Accused in a lawsuit filed in 3/2024 of abusing a boy, beginning in 1995 when the boy was age 8 and he and his father were homeless. Peterson allegedly plied the boy with money and gifts, then sexually abused him after giving him communion wine. The abuse is said to have continued for months until the boy’s family left TX.


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