5 Priests Who Were Prosecuted for Child Sexual Crimes

By Jay Tokasz
Buffalo News
June 20, 2018

https://buffalonews.com/2018/06/20/5-priests-who-were-prosecuted-for-child-sexual-abuse-crimes/

The Rev. Gerald Jasinski was a priest at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Lancaster when he was arrested in 1986 on felony charges of first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse and unlawfully dealing with a child. He was accused of having sexual contact with two boys, aged 15 and 18, at a cabin in Wyoming County. Jasinski pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of first-degree attempted sexual abuse and was sentenced in December 1986 to five years on probation. (Buffalo Diocese’s Priests’ Pictorial Directory)

Benedict P. Barszcz – A former assistant pastor of St. Peter's in Lewiston, he was charged in July 1999 with exposing himself to two teenage girls in Buffalo. Subsequently, he was no longer allowed to publicly celebrate Mass or the sacraments, the diocese said.

Fred D. Ingalls – Ingalls pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in June 2004. He was an administrator at St. Joseph in Varysburg and St. Cecilia in Sheldon at the time of his arrest. He was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison.

Gerald C. Jasinski - Jasinski, a priest at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Lancaster, was arrested June 7, 1986, on felony charges of first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse and a charge of unlawfully dealing with a child by the Wyoming County Sheriff's Office. Jasinski was accused of having sexual contact with two boys, age 15 and 18, at a cabin in the town of Sheldon. Jasinski pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of first-degree attempted sexual abuse in August, 1986 and was sentenced in December to five years on probation, according to Buffalo News archives.

Michael Miller - Miller, a Franciscan priest who taught for several years at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of possessing child pornography, obscenity and risk of injury to a minor in 2013 in Connecticut. Miller, 48, was a pastor of a Catholic church with a school in Kensington, Conn., when police there charged him. The Hartford Courant reported that Miller had inappropriate Facebook chats with seven Connecticut teenagers, including inviting one boy to come over and watch a "dirty movie" and writing detailed descriptions about sex acts he would perform on the boy, according to court documents. Miller previously taught at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs in 1993 and again from 2000 to 2003. Officials from the Buffalo diocese said at the time of Miller's arrest that they were not aware of any allegations of misconduct against Miller during his time at St. Francis.

James F. Rapp - Rapp, 77, who grew up in Lockport, worked as a priest in 1979-80 at DeSales High School in Lockport. Later, after being accused in 1987 of molesting two students at a Catholic high school in Jackson, Mich., he was sent to a psychological clinic for treatment by his religious order, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. Then he was assigned to serve as a parish priest in Duncan, Okla. He was charged with molesting two teenage boys in Oklahoma in 1999, pleaded no contest to lewd molestation, and was sentenced to two consecutive 20-year prison terms. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City paid $5 million to settle one lawsuit filed by a teen molested for five years and $1 million to settle another suit filed by a victim. In 2016, he was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison in Michigan after being charged with molesting six students at Lumen Christi High School in Jackson, Mich., in the 1980s.