WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |Abuse allegations prompts suit against St. John's
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Associated Press - December 9, 2009 11:44 AM ET
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (AP) - A former St. John's Prep School student who says he was abused there has sued the school and St. John's Abbey for fraud.
Jeramiah D. McCarthy's lawsuit accuses the school and abbey of knowing as early as the mid-1960s that the Rev. Bruce Wollmering had been "sexually inappropriate" with a child.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses them of concealing the allegations against Wollmering, and it accuses Wollmering of abusing McCarthy in 1971. Wollmering died in February.
The St. Cloud Times reports the lawsuit also accuses the abbey of a pattern of concealment of sexual misconduct by its priests and monks.
The abbey released a statement Tuesday that didn't directly address the allegations, but noted that allegations against Wollmering were disclosed in 2006. It also says sexual misconduct is not tolerated.
Information from: St. Cloud Times, http://www.sctimes.com
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