Rev. Curtis Carl Wehmeyer- Assignment Record

Assignment Record – Rev. Curtis Carl Wehmeyer

Summary of Case: Wehmeyer was arrested in June 2012 on charges of criminal sexual conduct after a woman reported to police that the priest molested her 12-year-old son in the summer of 2010. Wehmeyer was removed from his St. Paul, MN parish June 21, 2012. Investigators learned that the boy's 14-year-old brother was present during the abuse, and that he, too, was targeted. The incidents occurred in the priest's camper in the church parking lot and on an overnight camping trip. The boys said Wehmeyer gave them alcohol and marijuana and showed them pornography. Police found child pornography on Wehmeyer's laptop computer, which resulted in further charges. Wehmeyer pleaded guilty on all counts. He had been arrested previously, in 2009, on charges of Driving While Intoxicated. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 2 years of supervised probation. Wehmeyer was sentenced in February 2013 to 5 years in prison on child sexual abuse and pornography charges. In November 2014 Wehmeyer was charged with sexual assault in 2011 of a teen boy in WI. The archdiocese announced in March 2015 that Wehmeyer had been laicized. On June 5, 2015 the county criminally charged the archdiocese for failing to protect children in Wehmeyer's abuse of 3 minors. Civil charges were also brought; in December 2015 a settlement agreement stipulated that the civil case would be dropped after 3 years if the church put in place its policies and practices to protect children.

Ordained: 2001
Incardinated: St. Paul-Minneapolis
Laicized: March 2015

Start	Stop	Parish/Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
2001 St. Paul-Minneapolis archbishop was Harry Joseph Flynn (1995-2008).	2006	St. Joseph's	West St. Paul • In 2004 Wehmeyer is said to have made sexual overtures toward two young men , ages 19 and 20, at a Roseville bookstore. • In 2006 a police officer found Wehmeyer hanging out at a park that was known as a popular spot for anonymous sex. The officer said the priest told him, "I'm a priest. I know I shouldn't be here."	MN	2/2	St. Joseph's had a school with 750-680 students and a religious education program with 315-170 students. A concerned parishioner informed Vicar General, Rev. Kevin McDonough, of the incident in the bookstore. McDonough met with the parishioner and one of the young men who was approached by Wehmeyer, and told them that Wehmeyer was in counseling. Wehmeyer was sent to St. Luke's Institute in Maryland for in-patient treatment. He was also ordered to attend Sexaholics Anonymous meetings. The police officer in 2006 warned McDonough about Wehmeyer.
2006 Flynn was succeeded by John Clayton Nienstedt (2008-).	2012	Blessed Sacrament	St. Paul	MN	1/1	Blessed Sacrament has a religious education program with 52-156 students. In 2008 Ms. Jennifer Haselburger was hired by the archdiocese as Chancellor for Canonical Affairs. She said in a 2013 interview tht she discovered in Wehmeyer's personnel file in 2008 that Wehmeyer had a sexual addiction, and that he had violated the archdiocese's code of conduct. Haselburger knew that the new archbishop was considering making Wehmeyer pastor; she appealed to Nienstedt to review the file. Wehmeyer was made pastor of St. Thomas/Blessed Sacrament.
2009	2012	St. Thomas the Apostle/Blessed Sacrament	St. Paul • In 2009 the archdiocese received multiple complaints about Wehmeyer: from a priest who said Wehmeyer approached him for sex; from someone saying Wehmeyer was acting suspiciously with boys at a campground; and in Sept. 2009 Wehmeyer was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated. Police received a complaint about him appearing intoxicated and asking young men, ages 18-21, if they wanted to party with him. He was staying nearby in his camper at a state park. Wehmeyer pleaded guilty to the DWI and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and two years supervised probation. He was told to serve 4 days on electric home monitoring. • In June 2012 Wehmeyer was arrested on charges of sexually abusing a 12- year-old boy during the summer of 2010. The abuse took place in a camper on church property and on a camping trip. He also abused the boy's 14 year-old brother. Wehmeyer gave the boys alcohol and marijuana and showed them child pornography. The boys' mother went to the police and Wehmeyer was removed from the parish June 21, 2012. • Wehmeyer was charged in November 2014 with the sexual assault of a teen boy in 2011. His accuser told police Wehmeyer gave him alcohol and marijuana during a camping trip in WI, and that he awoke to find the priest in bed with him, touching him sexually.	MN	1/1 Pastor	St. Thomas the Apostle had a religious education program with 100-133 students. St. Thomas merged with Blessed Sacrament in 2009. The mother of the two boys who were abused by Wehmeyer stated in an Oct. 2013 interview that in 2009 she was told by then Twin Cities Vicar General and now bishop of Duluth, Paul Sirba, that she should be sure that an adult be present on camping trips with her sons and Wehmeyer. This was after Sirba learned that Wehmeyer had taken one of the women's son on a camping trip alone. She said the gist of Sirba's message was that the appearance of scandal needed to be avoided.
2012			St. Paul • Wehmeyer was charged in October 2012 with 17 counts of possession of child pornography after investigators found on his laptop computer "still images and video clips depicting sex acts involving prepubescent males".	MN		Wehmeyer pleaded guilty in Nov. 2012 to "criminal sexual conduct and possession of child pornography." He was sentenced to 5 years in prison. He was permanently removed from ministry in 2012. In March 2015 the archdiocese announced Wehmeyer's laicization by the Vatican. The archdiocese was criminally charged by the county for failure to protect children related to Wehmeyer's abuse of 3 minors. Civil charges were also brought but, in a December 2015 settlement agreement, they would be dropped after 3 years if the archdiocese implemented its child protection policies and procedures.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 2001-2011)

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Wehmeyer's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on December 30, 2015.