Reported/produced by: Laure Quinlivan
Photographer: Phil Drechsler
WCPO Cincinnati
February 3, 2005

[This is WCPO's transcript of Quinlivan's video report.]

http://www.wcpo.com/wcpo/localshows/iteam/7a7022c.html

9News anchor, on set: Tonight, the I-Team lays out documents the Archdiocese of Cincinnati hoped people would never see.

9News anchor, on set: They show the Cincinnati Archdiocese leaders' failure to report the sexual abuse of a priest with dozens of victims.

9News anchor, on set: I-Team reporter Laure Quinlivan has our exclusive report.

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter: "Have you covered up any of the crimes of your priests?"

Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, on tape: "No, No."

Laure Quinlivan, on tape: "Have you reported felony child abuse to police as required by Ohio law?"

Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, on tape: "Yes."

Laure Quinlivan, on tape: "When?"

Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, on tape: "When required."

Laure Quinlivan, on tape: "Well, that's been a law since 1974. Have you been reporting all the child abuse you've become aware of to police?"

Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, on tape: "We have reported all the child abuse that we are required to report. That's all I can tell you, I don't know any more than that."

Victim of priest, on tape: "He is a liar."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on video: Victims are angry after reading these letters from one priest's personnel file. they call them bombshells and we're going to show them to you.

David Kelley was a charming priest who befriended boys from West Side parishes he served, and from Elder High School where he taught religion.

Victim of priest, on tape: "We thought, why don't we invite Father Kel? Father Kel's cool."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on video: In May of '83, his glee club invited Chaplain Kelley to their end of year party. He says Kelley drank with the teens then invited him in for a nightcap.

Victim of priest, identity hidden, on tape: "I said sure."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team Reporter, on video: He was naive, and a virgin. Kelley was a wrester, chaplain of Elder's team. He used wrestling skills to pin the boy's head between his legs and sexually assault him.

Victim of priest, identity hidden, on tape: "That still just haunts me."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on video: "Why?"

Victim of priest, identity hidden, on tape: "Because I'm a male and that just doesn't happen."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on video: "He made you question your sexuality?"

Victim of priest, identity hidden, on tape: "Yeah, everything. You know what happened to me? I haven't told my wife what I've told you."

Victim of David Kelley, identity hidden, on tape: "The drinking and smoking." Full screen image of four victims.

Victims say Kelley routinely invited boys to his room where he gave them beer, pot, porn and molested those he could.

Victim of priest, identity hidden, on tape: "He says what happened here, we can't let this go out of this room, and I was like who do you think I'm gonna tell?"

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on video: He graduated in '83 and told no one. But that fall, another victim did tell. An Elder sophomore told his mom Kelley had abused him, and she told Elder Principal Tom Kuhn.

Voice of victim's mother from phone call: "I talked to Father Kuhn on the phone and told him."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on video: This letter proves Archbishop Pilarczyk knew several teens accused Kelley of molesting them.

Names are erased from these letters, but using dates and Catholic directories, the I-Team fills in the blanks.

Full screen graphic of letter.

Pilarczyk writes in the fall of '83 [actually December of '86, see PDF of this letter]:

"The priest principal, [Laure says: Father Tom Kuhn], reported parents of at least two students said..(Father Kelley) had them take off their clothes and he touched their genitals….within a few weeks the same kind of reports were brought to the principal by several additional students"

"fearing the real possibility of widespread scandal… (fr. kelley) was told he would have to leave the faculty and the parish. he readily agreed. he was strongly advised…to enter into professional counseling. he never did, to the best of my knowledge."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on video: Compare the Archbishop's letter to the what he told the I-Team about Kelley in 2003.

Archbishop Pilarczyk, on tape during 2003 interview with I-Team: "He was excessively familiar with young men."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on video, during 2003 interview: "You removed Father Kelley from Elder. Why wouldn't you remove him from the priesthood? You didn't even send him to counseling."

Archbishop Pilarczyk, on tape during 2003 interview with I-Team: "No, I'm sorry, I don't remember all the details. I'm not trying to be coy, I don't remember."

Victim of David Kelley, on tape: He should have taken Father Kelley by the hand and marched him right down to police and said here, we know this guy is abusing little kids."

Graphic of a letter [see PDF].

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: This memo shows leaders knew the law. In 1985, Priest Personnel Director Paul Rehling writes, Kelley should be sent to counseling "out of state. Reason: Ohio law requires reporting of child abuse."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: Instead of calling police to report Kelley's alleged abuse, the Archbishop moved him to St. Christopher's, north of Dayton.

No one told the pastor here Kelley might be a child molestor. Two years later, he kicked Kelley out.

(Graphic of a letter [see PDF].)

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, reading text of letter: Reverend Bob Monnin writes Kelley...

"The first day or so of your arrival, I bluntly asked you what the problem was. You said very little. I did emphatically state to you, 'no one except priests or family would be allowed to go to the second floor into our quarters.'"

"In the months that followed, there were numerous occasions when you took people into your room while I was in Texas. It's evident that [boy] was allowed to spend the night."

"[Boy] is a high school student who missed school the next day. Frankly, this scares the Hell out of me!"

"I have asked Father [Rehling] to reassign you. Not a single person in the parish will suspect a thing when you leave."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: The same month, the Archbishop got another letter about Kelley from another priest, Reverend Tom Bolte.

Bolte pastors St. Ingatius Loyola in Monfort Heights.

Bolte says a man he was preparing for marriage in 1986 told him Kelley had abused his best friend at Little Flower back in the 70's.

Rev. Tom Bolte, St. Ignatius Loyola, on tape: "So I contacted Father Rehling who was in charge of, uh, priest personnel at that time to let him know the situation and Father Rehling asked me to send it in a letter you know so it would be documented and that's what I did."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over fullscreen graphic, then reading aloud from letter: He writes that he told Rehling... [see PDF]

"This is a serious matter. I wonder if there might have been other students [Fr. Kelley] took up to his bedroom. These boys might need counciling [sic]."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over fullscreen graphic, then reading aloud from letter: So Rehling writes Pilarczyk [see PDF].

"Advise [Fr. Bolte] to tell the [groom's] friend to talk to some priest he can trust. The problem: if the young man were to talk to a professional counselor, that person may report the accused priest to civil authorities. I don't think you should say this to [Fr. Bolte] however. It would be held against you in any future court case."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: Former Priest Personnel Director Paul Rehling is now at St. William in Price Hill. He declined to talk.

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, asking Rehling a question on video: "How can you justify not taking him out of the ministry?"

Video continues, showing Rev. Paul Rehling slamming door.

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over graphic: The Archbishop took Rehling's advice and wrote Bolte.

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, reading aloud from letter: [see PDF]

"I suggest he talk to some priest he can trust. There is some possibility he is confused about what happened."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: We showed these documents to Father Bolte.

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on tape, interviewing Bolte: "What disturbs you about the letter?"

Fr. Tom Bolte, on video: "If criminal proceedings needed to occur, it should have occurred, and to remove Fr. Kelley from ministry at that time."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: Instead, the Archbishop sent Kelley for treatment out of state then assigned him chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Anderson.

Father of priest victim, on tape: "He's a monster who masquerades as a priest."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: Kelley apparently kept abusing.

In 1993, Father Bolte said another young man told him Kelley had tried to seduce him. Bolte says he told Priest Personnel Director Ken Czillinger, who's since left the priesthood.

Bolte writes... [see PDF]

[Reading letter text:]

"I told him [Father Kelley] was still stalking teenagers, still coming on sexually to young men after I had reported him in 1986. This was a serious problem with [Fr. Kelley] being chaplain at the hospital and living in an apartment unsupervised."

(Fr. Tom Bolte) "It was wrong, this was a dangerous situation and I hoped they were working with it."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: But the Archbishop let Kelley continue as Mercy's chaplain. Kelley also said mass at St. Veronica's in Mt. Carmel and St. Andrews in Milford. He even worked at this rehab center counseling teenagers.

Video shows rehab center.

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: Kelly's secret came out only after victims filed lawsuits in 2003, and despite all their letters on Kelley from the mid-80's we've shown you, this was the Archdiocese's public response.

Dan Andriacco, Archdiocese spokesperson, on tape during September 2003 news conference: "We are certain that we have not received any allegations of child abuse by Father Kelley previous to 1994. If there was any report of abuse before 1994, it never made it to the Archdiocese."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: That claim upset Father Bolte, who wrote church leaders to remind them he "contacted the Archdiocese about [Fr. Kelley] in 1986 and 1993."

Fr. Tom Bolte, on tape: "Everything needs to be above board and honest. Yes it does."

Laure Quinlivan, on tape, approaching David Kelley in fall 2003: "Can we talk to you?"

David Kelley on tape in fall 2003: No, you can't."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: In December 2003, Kelley left Cincinnati for Clarksville, Tennessee. He lives here, in a neighborhood with children.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, on tape: "There is no cure for pedophilia and they remain dangerous forever."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on tape talking with Deters: "Given that, should the Archbishop take responsibility to warn people about Kelley, keep track of him?"

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, on tape: "They should be taking every step to make sure the priests who engaged in this activity never have contact with any child again, no matter what it takes."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: The Archdiocese warned the local church but not Kelley's neighbors. They found out when victims handed out flyers in October.

Alexandra Neppl, neighbor of Kelley's, on tape: "He had teenage kids -- I think they were 17 or 18 -- over to his house. They were helping him cut his grass, just have a barbeque. I have told my little brother to stay on our side of the driveway, not to go over and talk to him or anything."

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, voice over video: "This local news story [Video shows the front page of the Leaf-Chronicle] is how Kelley's new boss learned his background. Kelley'd been working as a counselor."

Laure Quinlivan, on tape: "If you would have known that he was suspected of all these sexual offenses would you have hired him?"

Voice of Barb Smith, Buffalo Valley Rehab Center: "Definitely not."

Laure Quinlivan, voice over video: And now victims have learned the former prosecutor who declared justice...

Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen, during November 2003 news conference, on tape: "The Archdiocese has been held responsible."

Laure Quinlivan, voice over video: ...focused his plea deal on church crimes before 1982, letting the Archbishop off the hook.

Archbishop Pilarczyk, during November 2003 interview, on tape: "I believe that whatever needed to be done on my watch was done."

Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen, during November 2003 news conference, on tape: "There's nothing more we could have gotten out of this case than we got."

Laure Quinlivan, voice over video: But our investigation finds Allen had all the documents we've shown you, that prove the Archbishop's involvement.

Joseph Deters, Hamilton County Prosecutor, on tape: "It looks like they had those records."

Laure Quinlivan, interviewing Deters: "Then why didn't he use them?"

Joseph Deters, Hamilton County Prosecutor, on tape: "I don't know. That is an issue for Mike Allen."

Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen, during November 2003 news conference, on tape: "We examined under oath every witness from the Archdiocese who would have had knowledge of this abuse."

Laure Quinlivan, interviewing Bolte: "Did prosecutors contact you?"

Fr. Tom Bolte, on tape: "No, I was not contacted."

Joseph Deters, Hamilton County Prosecutor, on tape: "If anyone in your listening audience has evidence that someone, or they saw something that should come to our attention, please call us, because we're reviewing this right now, and if there's information we should know about, I hope they report it."

I-Team "BONG" and animation

Laure Quinlivan, on set: The Archbishop declined to answer any questions, on camera or in writing, because of pending litigation.

However a spokesman says:

"Archbishop Pilarczyk never intentionally misled anyone about his knowledge of child abuse by priests or others representing the Archdiocese during his tenure as Archbishop."

Meanwhile, victims are working with Ohio lawmakers to temporarily lift the statute of limitations to file civil lawsuits for childhood sexual abuse.

Contact the I-Team
Laure Quinlivan lquinlivan@wcpo.com