Some of the assaults happened in the boys' home when Dempsey visited them, the complaint said. The five men, who were identified only by their initials in the criminal complaint filed Wednesday, said Dempsey touched them indecently and simulated sex acts on them after he had invited them to stay overnight so they could serve Mass as altar boys the next morning. Although the suit later was dismissed, Heintz notified La Crosse police in 1995 of the incident, which led to contact with four other men who said they were sexually assaulted by Dempsey when they were teens in the 1960s. It was Heintz who brought the issue into the open when he filed a civil lawsuit in La Crosse County Circuit Court in 1993. "Seeing him and hearing the judge speak brought back the pain and hurt Father Dempsey caused me," Heintz said after the court hearing. In the front row, tears welled up in the eyes of one of his victims, 43-year-old Paul Heintz. "I want to apologize to those individuals identified in the complaint," the retired priest said, reciting their first names in a soft but clear voice, "for my having taken indecent liberties with them. Wearing a tan sweater and black clerical collar, Dempsey stood stooped over at a podium in a courtroom and cleared his throat. ![]() Dempsey, 78, pleaded guilty to one count of indecent behavior with a child while four other counts were dismissed stemming from incidents involving five boys in 1964, 19, when he was a priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of La Crosse.Īs part of the plea agreement, Dempsey was required to apologize publicly to his victims, four of whom were in court Wednesday. More than three decades after they were sexually assaulted by their priest, four middle-aged men sat in court Wednesday and heard the words they hope will help them get on with their lives: "I'm sorry."įather Thomas F. ![]() Click here for a video tribute to Meg Jones from the UW Marching Band alumni, featuring photos by Gary Smith.Priest Apologizes, Enters Guilty Plea Four of His Victims Hear 78-Year-Old Admit Sex Assaults Decades Ago, by Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, įour of His Victims Hear 78-Year-Old Admit Sex Assaults Decades Ago Please feel free to share your memories in the comments below. She “made everyone around her feel seen and valued,” Shastri said. Sometimes, she tucked in clippings of articles that had made her think of that person.Įvery day she came into the newsroom, she greeted everyone she passed by name.Īnd that was quintessentially Jones, said Devi Shastri, Milwaukee Newspaper Guild president, in her obituary. Jones kept regular correspondence with them, writing longhand letters on stationery. Once people met her, they were no longer strangers or sources or colleagues They were friends. She once prepared for a trip on the Orient Express by reading Agatha Christie’s classic detective novel that took place on the same train. She liked to read fictional works about the places she was about to visit or books written by authors from those places. She traveled the world, meeting new people and learning new things. She often switched desks during her weekend shifts to have a better view of whatever game was on that afternoon. Jones cheered for her beloved Badgers, Brewers, Bucks and of course, the Packers, with devotion and gusto. She captured the feeling of many in the city when she wrote: “It doesn’t seem right for a guy who survived so much in a land so far away to die in a blast through a door by an unseen enemy in a city he had spent almost half his life protecting and making safe.” More than a decade later, her newspaper covered his funeral after the veteran, Matthew Rittner, was fatally shot while on-duty as Milwaukee police officer. She remembered one young Marine whom she met in Afghanistan in 2008. After every reporting trip with Wisconsin’s troops, Jones spent the first few days back at her desk, calling their families to share updates and personal messages. She lived and loved every minute.”Īlthough she covered everything, her specialty was veterans and military affairs. “That excitement, that exuberance of finding the next great story never dimmed for Meg,” Journal Sentinel Editor George Stanley told Glauber. Most reporters would save a few phone numbers for experts, but she wanted to truly understand what she was covering. ![]() When she was assigned to do more frequent weather coverage, she checked out several meteorology books from the library. Jones brought earnest curiosity to every story she did.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |