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  Prep Alumnus Claims Sexual Abuse

Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI)
April 8, 1993

Brookfield — A prep school alumnus who claims he was sexually abused, harassed and stalked by the former athletic director of the church school near Fond du Lac has filed a civil lawsuit.

The 21-year-old Brookfield man, through his attorney, said his complaints about Thomas J. Gardipee were ignored by Joseph Diermeier, the rector of St. Lawrence Seminary High School.

"The boy's parents went to Diermeier in 1988 and showed him copies of love letters Gardipee had sent their son and said, 'We want this stopped,' " said Robert L. Elliott, attorney for the man whose suit was filed Tuesday.

Suspension proceedings were started against Gardipee, but a provincial council reversed the decision, Elliott said. The allegations were never reported to civil authorities as required by state law.

 
 

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