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  Man Alleging Abuse, Former Priest Settle Suit

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
February 21, 2003

A settlement was reached Thursday in a civil suit alleging that a former Roman Catholic priest, Joseph R. Schwaegel, sexually abused a 9-year-old boy in 1973.

The suit was filed in federal court in East St. Louis by Jephrey Hemmer, formerly of Belleville and now a resident of Boulder Creek, Calif. Hemmer alleged that Schwaegel had abused him on three occasions in the rectory of St. Peter's Cathedral in Belleville.

Hemmer says he repressed the memory until 1998. The terms of the settlement were not available. A judge previously dismissed counts filed by Hemmer against the Belleville Diocese.

 
 

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