Church Investigated An Accuser
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Private Detective Reported To Vicar About Priest's Alleged Victim
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By JACK DOLAN, DAVE ALTIMARI And ERIC RICH
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Courant Staff Writers
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March 22 2002
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Although the Roman Catholic Church did little to investigate priests
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accused of sex abuse in the Bridgeport diocese, in at least one case
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a private detective dug into the personal life of an alleged victim
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and reported his findings to then-Bishop Edward M. Egan's top aide,
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sealed court documents show.
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Church officials pursued the 1992 investigation of the accuser - a
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tactic said by critics to be common in such cases - even though they
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knew that the accused priest, the Rev. Laurence Brett, had faced
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other sex complaints and had admitted to biting a teenager during
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oral sex in 1964. The latest accuser, a New Mexico man, said that
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Brett had sought oral and anal sex in his rectory bedroom.
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A private investigator was retained by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to
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look for incriminating information on the man, who alleged that he
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was sexually abused as a child by Brett in that diocese during the
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late 1960s, according to the documents. The Bridgeport diocese had
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sent Brett to New Mexico for psychological treatment after the
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earlier biting incident.
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After digging into the man's background, the private detective
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reported to diocese officials in Bridgeport and Santa Fe that he had
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no criminal record, but that he had reported an "unusual number of
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burglaries" to police in the preceding years, the documents show.
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By contrast, there is nothing in the court records to indicate that
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the church applied similarly aggressive scrutiny to Brett's
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activities. In response to the accusation, Brett was summoned to
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Bridgeport in November 1992, where he told Egan's aide, Monsignor
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Laurence Bronkiewicz, that "he does not remember the name of the
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alleged victim," according to Bronkiewicz's written account of the
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meeting.
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Egan allowed Brett to continue working as a priest until February
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1993, when he suspended him after yet another complaint was made,
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this time that Brett had molested a boy in California in the 1960s.
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Details of the church's inquiry into the background of Brett's
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accuser emerged during pretrial testimony that Egan gave in 1997 for
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lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct by other priests from the
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Bridgeport diocese. His closed-door testimony remained sealed after
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the cases were settled last year, shortly after Egan was elevated to
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cardinal and archbishop of the New York Archdiocese.
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A transcript of Egan's testimony, along with thousands of pages of
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other sealed documents from those cases, was obtained recently by The
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Courant.
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The document shows that the investigation began after the alleged
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victim told priests in Santa Fe that, as a boy of 10 or 12 in the
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1960s, he was propositioned by Brett for sex in Brett's bedroom at
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the parish rectory. A memo describing the accuser's complaint,
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written by Chancellor Rev. Ron Wolf of the Santa Fe Archdiocese, said
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that an unspecified "sexual act" occurred, and that Brett told the
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boy "that no person would believe the incident took place."
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Wolf notified Bridgeport because Brett, although effectively banished
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from ministering in Connecticut after admitting to the biting
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incident in 1964, still worked as a priest under the auspices of the
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Bridgeport diocese. Brett had been sent to a treatment facility in
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New Mexico for therapy, but when he was finished, he was assigned to
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a church in that state instead of returning to Connecticut.
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In a telephone conversation arranged by Wolf on Nov. 6, 1992, the
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investigator reported his findings to Bronkiewicz, who as vicar for
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religious and clergy, was Egan's top deputy in Bridgeport. After the
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conversation, Bronkiewicz wrote a memo to the Bridgeport diocese's
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file on Brett that included the following information:
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"[The alleged victim], according to the Archdiocese investigator, has
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no arrest record; however, between the years 1988 and '90, he
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reported four burglaries which, according to the investigator, is an
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unusual number of burglaries over a four year period."
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Bronkiewicz also wrote to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, where Brett
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had been working since the 1970s, alerting them to the new
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allegation, and pledging that church officials in Bridgeport and
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Santa Fe intended to "investigate this matter thoroughly."
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"At the present time, we have no reason to believe that the accuser
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of Father Brett intends to take legal action of any kind, and there
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has been no publicity concerning the accusation," he wrote.
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Under questioning by plaintiffs' attorneys in 1997, Egan acknowledged
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that he had been apprised of the accusation against Brett. He
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hastened to point out that he had not written the memo referring to
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the private investigator.
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It is not clear from the deposition whether Egan knew about the
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investigation into the accuser's personal history, nor was he asked
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his opinion of it. A lawyer for the plaintiffs did ask Egan why it
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was important that there was "no publicity" of the allegation against
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Brett.
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"... I think it is important that there is no publicity, negative,
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for the person that's accusing or for the accused," Egan said. "It's
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always good not to have publicity until things are established."
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At another point in the questioning, the lawyer asked Egan why, given
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his concern about negative publicity for the alleged victim, the
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Bridgeport diocese during his tenure would distribute the names of
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accusers in a press release upon receiving notice of a lawsuit.
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Egan said he couldn't remember any specific policy about revealing
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the names of victims who sued, but said that an accuser who brought
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his case to court was voluntarily making his name public, so there
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was no point in the church's trying to keep it secret.
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The Archdiocese of New York has referred all inquiries about the
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Bridgeport sex abuse cases to the Bridgeport diocese, which said
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Thursday that it would not comment on issues that came to light
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during past litigation. Egan issued a statement Tuesday defending his
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handling of complaints against Brett and other priests in Bridgeport.
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Stephen Tinkler, a Santa Fe attorney who has represented more than
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150 victims in lawsuits against the Archdiocese in New Mexico, said
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it was standard practice for the church to hire a private
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investigator to investigate the backgrounds of accusers.
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"They fought tooth and nail against these claims until they realized
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it wasn't working and then they settled," Tinkler said.
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The Archdiocese of Santa Fe nearly went bankrupt paying out more than
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$50 million to settle 165 abuse claims in the 1990s. Officials from
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the archdiocese did not return telephone calls requesting comment for
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this story.
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Phil Saviano, head of the New England chapter of SNAP - Survivors
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Network of Those Abused by Priests - said he wasn't surprised to hear
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that the church would hire private investigators.
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"If they can intimidate victims or their families and get them to
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back down and not file a lawsuit, then they have helped the priest,"
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Saviano said. "They attack these cases as if they are trying to
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protect a corporation's assets and they'll do whatever they can to do
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that."
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Copyright 2002, Hartford Courant
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