June 05--Prosecutors in Minneapolis announced charges Friday against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, saying clergy there caused "unspeakable harm" to young victims of sexual abuse at the hands of a former priest.
The priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, is serving a five-year prison term for sexually abusing boys while he was a pastor in St. Paul.
The charges are against a corporation -- the diocese -- not an individual, meaning nobody will face jail time, but the archdiocese could face fines. The charges, misdemeanors, allege that the archdiocese as a whole failed to protect children, and Ramsey County Atty. John Choi said they stem from its handling of Wehmeyer.
At a news conference on Friday, Choi said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to charge specific individuals, but he said church officials in general opted to protect priests at the expense of children.
"The allegations reveal a disturbing way in which this organization said it protected children when in reality it did not," he said.
The charges come after a 20-month investigation led by police and county prosecutors into the handling of clergy abuse by the archdiocese. The probe was sparked by Wehmeyer's arrest in 2012 on sexual abuse charges.
Wehmeyer pleaded guilty to abusing two boys and possessing child pornography. Wehmeyer also faces charges he assaulted a teenage boy.
The 44-page, six-count complaint said the archdiocese "by act, word or omission encouraged, caused or contributed" to acts committed against three minors, identified as Victim 1, Victim 2 and Victim 3. Each allegation is punishable by a one-year sentence, a $3,000 fine, or both.
Specifically, it said the mother of Victim 1 told St. Paul police in June 2012 that Wehmeyer had been sexually abusing her son, who was 14 at the time. Wehmeyer was the family's parish priest at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul. The teenager told police that the abuse had begun in the summer of 2010 and included Wehmeyer providing him with beer and marijuana and showing him pornography.
According to the complaint, the molestations took place in Wehmeyer's camping trailer.
The brother of the 14-year-old, known as Victim 2, reported similar incidents to police, the complaint said.
"Victim 2 reported that while camping, Wehmeyer would share a bed with him during the night," according to the court documents. "Victim 2 stated that he would put up a barricade of pillows and blankets to try to separate himself from Wehmeyer while they slept but, when he would awaken, would find the barricade removed and Wehmeyer's hands touching his private parts."
The complaint said the abuse of Victim 3 occurred during a camping trip in Wisconsin and was reported to police in 2013. At the time, the boy was 15 or 16 and said he also was given alcohol and marijuana by the priest. The sexual assault charge that Wehmeyer is still facing stems from that allegation.
According to the complaint, parish officials were notified that Wehmeyer had been spotted more than once leaving the boy's bathroom of the school where he worked, even though staff were supposed to use their own restroom.
The officials also had been made aware that Wehmeyer had been cited for loitering at a park bathroom in 2004, and also were told of an alleged incident in which Wehmeyer tried to pick up two young men at a bookstore, and were warned by parishioners and others of signs of misconduct by the priest, the complaint alleges.
High-ranking officials in the archdiocese either ignored or paid little heed to the warnings, the complaint said. In one case, it said Rev. Lee Anthony Piche, an auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese, replied to someone concerned about Wehmeyer sharing his bed with boys on camping trips: "Father Curt Wehmeyer has many skeletons in his closet."
The archdiocese was established in 1850, according to its website, and serves about 825,000 Catholics.
The website includes a "Pledge to Heal" aimed at victims of abuse, and it says in part:
"When members of the clergy or others representing the Catholic Church abuse someone, they violate a sacred trust. To those who have been abused, we are truly sorry for the pain you and your loved ones have suffered. We are committed to listening to you, addressing your needs and concerns, and doing all we can to prevent any more harm."
tina.susman@latimes.com
UPDATE
1:16 p.m.: This story was updated with details from the criminal complaint.
This story was originally published at 12:03 p.m.
