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Diocese of St. Petersburg ACCUSED PRIESTS

The Diocese of St. Petersburg, established in 1968, is on the west-central coast of Florida and includes the counties of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus, serving over 460,000 Catholics. 

The diocese lists nine priests on its website credibly accused of sexually abusing minors while serving in the diocese; Richard Allen, Norman Balthazar, Rocco D’Angelo, William Lau, Hubert Reason, Michael Rhodes, James Russo, Robert Shaeufele, and Keith Symons. The diocese also lists the following five laypeople credibly accused of sexually abusing minors while employed by the diocese: Robert Allen, Leon Gilberti, Emil Anastasia, Scott Stern, and Tom Nibbio.  

As of 2011, the diocese had paid $4.7 million to settle lawsuits alleging sexual abuse; out of that $4.7 million, the diocese paid $1.8 million between 2006 and 2011. The diocese paid an additional $237,000 for victim counseling and $123,000 for legal fees. In one lawsuit, the diocese paid a settlement of $75,000 in 2010 to a man who claimed that former diocese priest Norman Balthazar sexually abused him in 1980 when he was a minor. 

Balthazar was assigned to Tampa’s Christ the King parish at the time of the abuse. In 1991, authorities charged him with soliciting a lewd act with a male when Balthazar was serving at this parish. The case was thrown out, and Balthazar was allowed to continue serving as a priest after taking a nine-month sabbatical and undergoing counseling. 

In 2002, several former parishioners in the diocese alleged that former priest Hubert Reason sexually abused them while they were minors. The victims claimed that Reason gave them alcohol on trips to Tampa, and that he had sexually abused them on the trips. Reason left the diocese in 1978 and later served in several other Florida dioceses. The dioceses of Orlando and St. Augustine later paid settlements of $1.5 million based on allegations by three former altar boys that Reason sexually abused them while serving in those dioceses.

In the case of former priest Rocco Charles D’Angelo, the Archdiocese of Miami knew that D’Angelo had molested at least four boys during his tenure. In response to complaints from parents, the archdiocese sent D’Angelo to therapy. It D’Angelo was then reassigned to the Diocese of St. Petersburg, where he continued to molest children for years until he was forced to retire in 1994 following new allegations against him. 

In one case of sexual abuse in the diocese by a church employee, Clearwater Central Catholic High School wrestling coach Scott Stern was sued in 2016 by a student who accused him of abuse. Another student sued him in 2017, again claiming sexual abuse. According to these lawsuits, Stern accused the boys of using illegal drugs and threatened to report them unless they engaged in humiliating acts. The lawsuits alleged that the school should have known about Stern’s predatory behavior because he had been accused of similar conduct at another high school in the area. 

Though no one can take away the pain your abuser caused you, sexual abuse victims deserve to seek justice. You may be able to file a claim against both your abuser and the Diocese of St. Petersburg. It is crucial that you speak with a Florida sexual abuse lawyer to understand whether or not you can file a claim. It may not be too late; even if the abuse happened years ago, you may have legal rights.

Contact our legal team of child sex abuse lawyers at Herman Law today to understand how we can help you. We offer victims a free case evaluation so do not hesitate – contact us now!

Ordained: N/A
Status: Settled
 
Joined seminary at age 17. Left religious life in 1983. Age 46 in 2005 when named as abuser “Br. Jorges Acosta” by two men in a civil suit against the Salesians and Mary Help of Christians School in Tampa. Admitted in a 02/07 deposition to sexual relations with three students in 1983 when he was teacher and cleric at school. He told the principal about two of the incidents but was never reported to law enforcement. A second suit was filed in 4/07. One settlement announced in 7/08. Amount confidential. No criminal charges due to the statute of limitations. Included in 3/20 on the Salesians list of credibly accused.
Ordained: 1970
Status: Accused
 
In 2002 a man told the diocese that Allen abused him for two years, when he was ages 12-13. Allen resigned from his position and his privileges were suspended in 4/02. The diocese denied any prior knowledge. No criminal charges were filed. In 5/02 the diocese acknowledged that Allen’s file did not raise any red flags during its review of the files of 240 active priests. Died 8/22/07, age 64. Per his obituary, Allen was a licensed mental health therapist.
Ordained: 1966
Status: Convicted
 
Also known as Gerald Russell Appleby. In 1994 a young man accused Appleby of molestation over a 2-year period. Suit filed in 1996; later dropped. Appleby left St. Petersburg in 1979; diocese said no knowledge of complaints until 1994. Order paid the accuser $4,800 for therapy in 1995. Removed by Order in 1990 or 1991; laicized in 1995. Arrested in TX on FL abuse charges in 3/03. Pled guilty in 2004; sentenced to 12 years prison and 20 years sex offender probation. Died in prison in 2005. On Corpus Christi diocese’s list 1/31/19. It notes removal from ministry in the diocese 1983.
Ordained: 1963
Status: Settled
 
Initially charged in 1991 in Tampa with soliciting a lewd act from a male undercover police officer. Charges dismissed by court. Sent for therapy and returned to ministry. Diocese paid $75K in 2010 to a man claiming abuse by Balthazar at Christ the King in Tampa in the early 1980s when he was 17. Settlement not revealed until 1/11. Per Tampa police, in 2002 a man accused Balthazar and another priest of sexually assaulting him in 1971 at age 9. State did not press charges.
Ordained: 1962
Status: Convicted
 
Priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of St. Josaphat of Parma. Working in Toronto, Canada when he abused a 14-year-old girl. Pled guilty in 1985 to molestation charge and served a year of probation in Connecticut. The girl and her family sued and won judgment (never paid). Berko turned up as pastor of a Ukrainian Catholic church in St. Petersburg FL. Removed in 4/02 when Ukrainian Bishop was informed of his past. Died in 5/08.
Ordained: 1966
Status: Indicted
 
Visiting priest from the Lingayen-Dugapan archdiocese in the Philippines. Worked in St. Petersburg diocese 1975-89. Accused of repeatedly raping a girl there 1978-86, starting when she was age 8. Listed as Army chaplain in Ogdensburg NY diocese 1989-91. Listed in Palm Beach FL diocese as parish priest 1992-94. Fled country after allegations became known in 2002. Warrant out for his arrest. In 1/03 the Diocese of St. Petersburg reached a $33,500 out-of-court settlement with the woman. Announcement 4/06 that Bernabe died in 2004.
Ordained: 1993
Status: Sued
 
Made Profession as a Salesian brother in 1983 Ordained for the order in 1993. Worked in NJ, FL and NY. A 2002 civil suit alleged abuse in 1986-87. Reported in 1989. Working in a New York religious center until suspension in 2002. Order was dismissed from suit in 11/02. At least one other alleged victim after came forward. Possibly living in Virginia as of 7/05. Included on the Salesians list of credibly accused in 3/20.
Ordained: N/A
Status: Sued
 
Made his profession as a Salesian brother in 1941. Worked in WV, NB Canada, FL and NY. Accused in a 3/16 lawsuit of sexual abuse of boy, ages 12-14, at Mary Help of Christians boarding school for disadvantaged children in Tampa FL, 1976-78. Per the suit, another student accused Cosula in 1977, but the Salesians did not call police. Between 2002-16, about 10 other former students alleged abuse by priests and brothers at the school, which closed in 2006. Included on the order’s list of credibly accused in 3/20.
Ordained: 1949
Status: Settled
 
Accused of sexually abusing at least two boys at Mary Help of Christians school, East Lake, FL (boarding school for troubled boys). Claim vs Eastern U.S. Province of Salesians said to be quietly settled. Also worked in NJ and NY. Died in 1999. Included on the Salesians List of credibly accused in 3/20. Died: 03/19/1999.
Ordained: N/A
Status: Accused
 
Professed vows as a Salesian brother in 1961. Named publicly as accused by the Salesian order on its list in 3/20. Worked at Mary Help of Christians in Tampa. Withdrew in 1965 from the Salesians.
Ordained: 1949
Status: Accused
 
Named publicly as accused by the FL Attorney General in its report released 11/6/20, name misspelled “Lewis.” Rev. Louis Hamm was from Germany. He worked as a physician and Holy Name Province Franciscan friar in China beginning in 1934, and was ordained there in 1949. He arrived in the U.S. in 1951 and worked for the Province in NC, GA, NJ, RI. The 1986 volume of the Official Catholic Directory shows Hamm as at the Franciscan Home for Retired Priests in St. Petersburg, FL. Died 1/8/88 in Butler, NJ, age 86. Included on the Province’s list in 10/21 of those against whom there are substantiated allegations.
Ordained: 1973
Status: Accused
 
From Cuba, moved to the US in 1980. Removed himself from ministry in 2/06 after a man accused him of abuse in 1999 when the man was 16 and Hernandez was assigned to St. Rita’s in Dade City. Hernandez denied all the allegations. Police investigated but did not file charges. Diocese conducted an investigation and submitted matter to Review Board. Diocese announced it would return him to active ministry as of 8/30/06. Not on diocesan website as of 7/19/08.
Ordained: 1986
Status: Accused
 
Hidding was removed from his assignment at a Miami parish in 5/02 after a credible allegation that he molested a student at Jesuit High School in Tampa sometime during 1980-82. Transferred to Jesuit College Prep in Dallas, TX where he worked 1982-83. This was while he was a Jesuit brother, prior to ordination. Also had assignments in New Orleans. Died 10/12/05. On the Jesuits Central and Southern Province list 12/7/18.
Ordained: 1957
Status: Settled
 
Pastor of Church of the Nativity in Brandon 1969-99. Per 4/02 news, Lara was accused in a 11/87 lawsuit of touching and making sexual advances toward the daughter of the parish music directors, who had been fired five months earlier. The abuse allegedly began when the girl was 14 and continued for 5 years. The parents also accused Lara of slandering them and of hitting and pushing the wife just before the church fired them. The suit was “amicably resolved” in 1990, per court records. Lara continued at the parish and retired in 1999.
Ordained: 1979
Status: Accused
 
Pastor of Blessed Trinity in 5/96 when accused of a sexual incident involving an older teenage boy years earlier. Resigned from the parish and was sent to St. Luke’s in MD for treatment. Bishop Lynch waited five months before telling the parish why Lau left. Per the diocese in 4/02, Lau “was removed from the ministry and sought employment elsewhere.”
Ordained: N/A
Status: Accused
 
Professed vows as a Salesian brother in 1965. Worked at Mary Help of Christians School in Tampa. Left the order in 1973. Included in 3/20 on the Salesians’ list of credibly accused.
Ordained: 1963
Status: Settled
 
In two 2002 civil suits Luka is accused of abusing three male students in the late 1970s at St. Helen’s Catholic school in Lauderdale Lakes. Luka left the school in 1978 after one mother went to the parish pastor. Luka’s order, the Claretians, claimed they received their first allegation against him in 1999, of abuse occurring in NY state around 1979. Sent St. Luke’s in MD for treatment. Permanently removed from ministry. Living in 2002 at Wounded Brothers Project in MO. Judge ruled in 2/03 that the latest suit against Luka could go forward. At least one claim settled in 9/04 for $150K. Included in 3/18 on the Rockville Centre diocese’s list of accused. Reportedly died around 2011.
Ordained: 1966
Status: Accused
 
Priest of the Diocese of Venice, formerly St. Petersburg diocese territory. Suspended from ministry in 11/18 after the Diocese of St. Petersburg notified Venice of an allegation of inappropriate contact with a minor. Incident alleged to have occurred in the 1970s when McLoughlin was pastor of Corpus Christi in Temple Terrace. (His brother, Fr. Ed McLoughlin was accused of abuse of teen boys in the 1980s and 1990s. Fr. Nick McLoughlin was accused in lawsuits of covering up for for Fr. Ed.)
Ordained: N/A
Status: Accused
 
Made perpetual profession of vows in 1955. Accused in 1994 of abuse of three boys at Notre Dame International School in Rome, Italy in the early 1960s, when he was a religious brother. He left the order in the 1970s. He had worked for Catholic schools in MA and NY prior to becoming a teacher at Jesuit High School in Tampa in 1988. Became principal in 1992. Placed on leave in 12/94 when allegations became known. He denied all allegations. Mulryan retired in 6/95. Included on the Fall River diocese’s list in 1/21 of credibly accused. Died in 2009.
Ordained: 1970
Status: Sued
 
Sued in 2003 and 2004. Accused by three people of abusing them at a boarding school in Tampa, Mary Help of Christians, in the early 1990s. When parents complained, he was reassigned to Salesian Boys and Girls Club in Boston, and the Salesian Provincial House in New Rochelle. Placed on leave in 2003 after suit filed. Had been investigated in 1993 by Florida’s Dept of Health and Rehabilitation Services for allegations. No charges filed. Included in 3/20 on the Salesians list of credibly accused.
Ordained: 1957
Status: Settled
 
In 2002, “several individuals” came forward with credible accusations that they had been abused by Reason as minors. Per a 12/02 news article, two brothers had come forward to allege abuse by Reason and Fr. Gerry Appleby, and by an Episcopal priest and an Episcopal seminarian. The men said that, in effect, the four traded them around. They said that Reason would also give them and other altar boys money and alcohol and take them to Tampa for professional wrestling. Reason left the diocese in 1978 and died in1984, at age 60. Accused in 2005 of child sexual abuse at an Altamonte Spring parish in the early-to-mid-1960s. Three claims settled for $1.5M in 7/05.
Ordained: 1984
Status: Accused
 
Per news in 2004, Rhodes was accused of sexually abusing two boys in the ate 1970s, when he was a seminary student. One of the alleged victims came forward in late 2003 and the second was located by church investigators. Rhodes left the ministry in 1993. In 2004 was possibly living in Florida and working as a clinical hypnotherapist.
Ordained: 1956
Status: Convicted
 
Pled guilty in FL in 1967 to one count of contributing to delinquency of minor. Sentenced to three years probation and psychiatric counseling. Charged in FL in 1985 with one count of sexual battery or lewd and lascivious act on boy under 14 in 1984. Sentenced to one year in jail. Also worked in TX, CA, KS, AL, LA. Living in LA in 2002. Complaint in 2004 of 1962 abuse. Died 2/04/09. On Mobile archdiocese’s list 12/6/18. On Alexandria diocese’s list 2/6/19. On Jesuits Central and Southern Province’s list 12/7/19.
Ordained: N/A
Status: Accused
 
Reportedly in 2004 Sanders was visiting the diocese in the 1980s when he allegedly abused a minor. Name included in the FL Attorney General’s report 11/6/20.
Ordained: 1975
Status: Convicted
 
Placed on leave 4/02 after allegations surfaced. The diocese knew in 1994 that Schaeufele was bringing boys to his rectory. Several civil suits 2003-04. In 2004 the diocese agreed to pay $1.1M to 12 men abused by him as boys. Others refused to settle. Found not guilty in 5/03 of some charges, but convicted in 6/03 on other charges of abuse in the 1980s. Received two 30-year concurrent sentences. Also sentenced in Pasco County 7/03. At least 22 accusers are known. Abused in parishes that were later part of the Venice diocese. Scheduled for release from prison in 2/15, after serving only 12 years.
Ordained: N/A
Status: Accused
 
Named publicly as accused in the FL Attorney General’s report released 11/6/20. Deceased. (No other information, including diocese Schneider was affiliated with; placing him in St. Petersburg for now.)
Ordained: 1986
Status: Convicted
 
Chaplain at a Catholic high school in Sarasota (Diocese of Venice) when charged in early 1997 with internet solicitation of a 13-year-old boy, who was actually an undercover policeman. Pleaded no contest to charges. Sentenced to two years house arrest and two years probation. Admitted abuse in prior assignments in Mexico. Also worked in Spain and Rome, Italy.
Ordained: 1971
Status: Accused
 
Arrived in the St. Petersburg diocese in 4/76 from Vietnam. Temporarily removed in 2003 from his assignment after a female parishioner accused him of abuse in the early 1990s, when she was a minor. Asked to step down from assignment after investigation by the Diocesan Review Board, pending a more in-depth investigation. Returned to ministry because allegations could not be proved. Active priest per diocesan website accessed in 7/08 and again in 8/20.

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