Archdiocese of Baltimore ACCUSED PRIESTS

Named publicly by the Baltimore archdiocese on its list 4/24/2019. The Diocese of Harrisburg told Baltimore in 2018 of a claim of sex abuse against Bechtel, occurring while assigned to Mt. St. Joseph High School. Bechtel worked at the school 1979-1989. More allegations of abuse while at Mt. St. Joseph followed. Bechtel died in 1994. Included in the MD Attorney General’s Report 4/5/23, which shows two separate reports in 1986 by teen boys (both former St. Joseph’s students) to their counselors of ‘solicitation by Bechtel. No action. The 2018 reports were from a mother who said her two boys were abused by Bechtel while Mt. St. Joseph’s students, and from a former student who said Bechtel fondled him in 1987 or 1988 when he was age 15 or 16.

Pastor of St. Edward’s in Baltimore 1979-2003. Placed on leave in 1993 after complaints of abuse of a minor 1989-1992. Law enforcement investigated; closed case despite evidence of abuse; discovered several teenage boys had lived at Blackwell’s rectory over the years. Sent to treatment then reinstated. Permanently placed on leave in 1998 after admitting to a “sexual relationship” with another minor which ended in the 1970s. Settlement for $90K with this victim. The 1993 accuser shot and injured Blackwell in 2002. Archbishop acknowledged abuse. In 2002 multiple others alleged sexual abuse by Blackwell 1960s-1970s. Included on the archdiocese’s list of accused. Laicization announced in 12/2004. Found guilty during a 2/2005 criminal trial for the 1993 abuse, which included rape. Settlement for $70K with this victim in 2008. Also in 2008, $35K and $75K settlements with two more victims. Three more men came forward, in 2/2017, 5/2018 and 4/2020, reporting abuse ages 13-17, at age 8 or 9, and in third grade. Blackwell’s case is included in the MD Attorney General’s 4/5/2023 report. 

Named publicly as accused in the 4/5/2023 MD Attorney General’s Report. Sued in 1978 for an affair with a neighbor’s wife. Went on leave of absence, never returned to ministry. Married. Report in 1988 to the Archdiocese that Callahan sexually abused a boy, ages 11-18, from 1967-1974. The abuse was said to have included rape and involved alcohol. It occurred in many places, including during overnights at the rectories of St. Rita’s in Baltimore and Christ the King in Edgemere. The alleged victim said he was sure others knew about it. A priest assigned to St. Rita’s with Callahan 1970-1972 said “Callahan was close to many young people, including the victim and his family” and that he knew Callahan “had kids in his room.” Callahan was laicized in 2017. He died 11/22/2019.

From the Diocese of Istmina-Tado, Colombia. Worked in in the Diocese of Arlington VA 1994 until 1997, when  removed for sexual misconduct with a young woman. Cristancho arranged in vitro fertilization of a woman in Colombia using his sperm. Triplets were born in 11/2001 (2 boys, 1 girl). He was assigned to the Archdiocese of Baltimore 1999-2002, at St. Ignatius in Forest Hill. The archdiocese revoked Cristancho’s faculties in 7/2002, reportedly because he refused a new assignment, later learning that he had fathered triplets. In 2006 DSS found that he had sexually abused of both of the boys, including oral sex. Their mother reported a possible third victim. Maryland appeals court gave custody to the mother in 10/2008. Cristancho denied abuse. Included in 4/2016 on the archdiocese’s list of accused. Arrested in 9/2017 and charged with making and possessing child pornography. Detectives found photos of little boys on Cristancho’s electronic devices in his home, and on a memory card in a safe. He pleaded guilty 10/4/2021 to “coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity” and admitted to creating nude images of four other children. His victim was ages 11-13 when abused 2002 through at least Fall 2003. Cristancho met the boy at St. Ignatius parish. Sentenced in 5/2011 to 22 years in federal prison. Laicized in 2022. Included in the 4/5/23 MD Attorney General’s Report. 

Monsignor. Parish priest, prep school chaplain, prison chaplain, archdiocesan Director of Catholic Boy Scouts, active in Volunteers for America, where he worked at two facilities for children. Died 2/3/1992. In 1993 the archdiocese received multiple allegations of child sexual abuse against Davies. Resigned in 1990 due to about his use of funds at St. Joseph Parish. One man alleged abuse in the 1960s at St. Joseph’s in Hagerstown. The allegations were not announced publicly until 8/13/2015 in an archdiocesan press release, which stated a man alleged abuse by Davies as a child in the 1950s. The statement acknowledged there were other allegations, without elaborating. On archdiocese’s 12/14/2018 list; it notes numerous allegations of child sex abuse received against Davies. Included in the 4/5/2023 MD Attorney General’s Report. It notes that Davies sexually abused, including rape, at least eight boys in the 1950s and 1960s.

From the Bahamas. Assigned to St. Veronica in South Baltimore and then in 2000 to St. Francis Xavier in East Baltimore. Suspended in 2002 after allegations that he molested a 13-year-old boy in 4/2002 at St. Francis Xavier. Archdiocese said in 9/2002 that the allegation did not “appear…credible” but investigation revealed “significant issues of concern about…fitness for ministry with minors.” He resigned and was placed on leave by his Order. One young man said in 8/2002 that Dean would “ride around Mount Vernon and pick up little boys” every Monday night. Indicted on criminal charges in 5/2003; charges dismissed by judge “at the request of the victim’s family” in 12/2003. Settlement in 2004. Included on the Baltimore archdiocese’s list. Included in the 4/5/2023 MD Attorney General’s Report. 

Parish priest, longtime teacher and principal of Mount De Sales Academy in Catonsville. Named publicly as accused by the archdiocese on its list 4/24/2019. Report to archdiocese in 2002 of abuse in the early 1950s. Allegation in 2012 of abuse early 1950s-early 1960s. Duerr died in 1982. Included in the 4/5/2023 MD Attorney General’s Report. It notes that a former nun reported in 2002 that when she was working at St. Rita’s 1952-1953, she witnessed Duerr fondling altar boys, who were third graders at the parish school. She said she tried to report the abuse to the Archdiocese six years prior, and was told nothing could be done because Duerr was deceased. In 2012 a woman told the Archdiocese she was sexually abused by Duerr beginning when she was age 7 at St. Rita’s and continuing until she went away to college. She said she was was first raped before her first communion. Further, she told a nun about the abuse, and she believed that another priest at the parish, Fr. Charles Muth, knew about it. 

Monsignor. In 1988, the Archdiocese received an allegation against Duke of sexual abuse of a boy during 7th and 8th grades in 1953-1954. This victim received a $25K settlement from Duke. Duke admitted in 1988 to sexually abusing 26 children 1944 -1961, seven of whom later came forward. The abuse included oral and anal rape. Many victims told other priests and/or church authorities, to no avail. In one case, Fr. John Tierney did speak to Duke in the early 1950s, and the abuse of that victim stopped. One man said in 1993 that he was abused over two years in the 1940s, beginning at age 10; he told another priest in confession, who swore him to secrecy. (The priest, Joseph Kenney, was later credibly accused of child sexual abuse.) Duke also sent other victims to confession. The Archdiocese knew Duke was sexually abusing boys as early as 1953 and was sent for ‘spiritual direction.’ He died in 1992. His name appeared on the 9/2002 list of priests and religious brothers in the Baltimore archdiocese who had been accused of child sexual abuse. Included in the 4/5/2023 MD Attorney General’s Report. 

Named publicly as accused in the 4/5/2023 MD Attorney General’s Report. Worked in PA, MD and VA. Parish priest, teacher, campus minister. Report to the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2011 that Ernst sexually abused and raped a boy, ages 12-14, at St. Augustine in Elkridge MD, where he was assigned 1998-2004. The person reporting believed that other children were abused as well. In 9/2022 a family member of the alleged victim told the MD Attorney General’s office that the abuse began when the boy was age 6-7, and that Ernst kept a book of photos of naked boys. Ernst died in 2004.

Name also spelled Evanowski or Evanoski. Included on the Baltimore archdiocese’s list of accused 4/24/2019, noting an allegation reported to the archdiocese in 2003 of abuse in 1967 of an Archbishop Curley High School student. Additional allegations followed of abuse while Ewanowski was a Curley High faculty member, where he was assigned 1968-1976. He died in 1990.

Named publicly as accused by the archdiocese on its list in 6/2022. Died in 1988. Noted to have been accused in 2014 of abuse in the 1970s at Shrine of the Little Flower in Baltimore, and to have been the subject of a second allegation in 2022.

Named as a perpetrator of abuse of minors in the 4/5/2023 MD Attorney General’s report. Prior to his 1975 ordination, Affrica was a Holy Cross Brother for eleven years. Taught high school in MA and in Forrestville MD as a Holy Cross Brother. Accused in 2005 of abuse of a boy, ages 15-18 during 1973-1976. Abuse allegedly occurred at the parish rectory and on a weekend retreat, and involved alcohol and marijuana. Accused in 2007 of abusing a girl, age 15 or 16, in the late 1970s, also involving alcohol. Both alleged victims said that many kids would hang out with Affrica at the rectories. Went on leave in 1981, married, and became a licensed social worker. Requested laicization in 2016.

In 1997 the Baltimore archdiocese received an allegation that Gerg sexually abused a minor in the late 1960s to early 1970s, while assigned to St. Benedict’s in Baltimore. Removed from active ministry in 2002, after the U.S. Bishops’ Dallas Charter. Included on Baltimore’s list of accused priests in 9/2002. Included in 8/2018 on the St. Vincent Archabbey of Latrobe PA Benedictines’ list of credibly accused. 

In 4/2004 a man alleged abuse by Girard when he was a boy in the early 1990s. Police were notified; archdiocese investigated. Girard denied the allegation. Not on archdiocese’s list of active priests in 2008. Received one year probation in 2002 after telling police he was the victim of a car jacking. Instead, he had picked up a male prostitute and the man stole his car. Accuser died by suicide in 2005; his parents sued in 12/2007. Girard’s name was included archdiocese’s list 7/23/2019. Noted to have died in 2018.

Priest of the Archdiocese of Seoul, South Korea. Studied 1970-1974 at Johns Hopkins University and resided at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Towson MD. In 1993 an individual alleged sexual abuse by Lee in the early 1970s. Baltimore informed the Archdiocese of Seoul of the allegations. Lee’s name appears on the Baltimore archdiocese’s 9/2002 list of priests from other dioceses who were accused of abuse in the archdiocese.

Ordained for the Diocese of Trenton. Transferred in 1972 to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The archdiocese announced on 1/30/2022 that Lupico had been suspended pending the investigation into allegations that he had sexually abused a minor in the mid-1970s, while assigned to St. Ann’s in Baltimore. At the time of his suspension Lupico was assisting at St. Mary of the Assumption in Baltimore and St. Pius X in Towson. He denied the allegations.

On 5/2/2021 the archdiocese announced that it had suspended Meogrossi from ministry due to an allegation that he had sexually abused a minor. The abuse allegedly occurred during a clinical therapy session in 2006; Meogrossi was working as a licensed therapist. He denied the allegation.

Named publicly as accused by the archdiocese on its list in 6/2022. Died in 2003. Noted to have been accused in 2004 of abuse of a minor in the 1960s, and two have been the subject of two more allegations in 2022.