Bishop Urges Any Other Abuse Victims To Come Forward

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BY BETH RUCKER ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

KNOXVILLE (AP) -- The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville, which includes Northeast Tennessee, is urging anyone who may have been sexually molested by the Rev. William Casey to come forward.

Bishop Richard Stika said at a news conference in Knoxville on Thursday that Casey, 76, who is retired and lives in Greene County, had been removed from ministry permanently after acknowledging the credibility of allegations that he sexually abused a young man for several years beginning in the late 1970s.

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At that time, Father Casey, who has been a popular and respected priest in the diocese for many years, was associated with St. Dominic Catholic Church in Kingsport. He was the pastor of that church between 1976 and 1987, according to the diocese.

Warren Tucker, 44, who now lives in Indiana, stated publicly in Knoxville on Wednesday that he had been repeatedly sexually molested by Casey between the ages of 10 and 15, when Tucker was a child in the St. Dominic church.

In response, Bishop Stika has apologized to Tucker and his family and expressed concern for them, as well as permanently removing Casey from ministry as a Catholic priest.

The bishop said at the news conference on Thursday that Father Casey had also indicated that there may be other victims.

With that possibility in mind, a letter by Bishop Stika encouraging other victims to come forward will be read at all weekend masses throughout the Diocese of Knoxville, which covers a wide swath of East Tennessee.

Tucker, who now lives in Jeffersonville, Ind., has said he was abused for five years in the late 1970s beginning when he was a fifth-grader at the church school of St. Dominic Church.

The Associated Press has a policy of not identifying victims of sex abuse, but Tucker agreed to have his name and hometown used.

The sheriff's office in Marion, N.C., has launched a criminal investigation of Casey.

Tucker said he was molested until he was about 15 years old, including during a trip with Casey to North Carolina. He has also stated that abuse occurred in Kingsport and at a cabin in Greene County belonging to Casey.

Tucker filed a criminal complaint against Casey in Marion because North Carolina doesn't have a statute of limitations when a felony is involved, but Tennessee does.

Casey spent time at six other parishes in East Tennessee in his 30-year career as an active priest before retiring in 1999. Since then, he has filled in at various parishes for vacationing priests and at other times.

He is a former pastor of Notre Dame Catholic Church in Greeneville and has occasionally filled in at services there.

Stika says local law enforcement authorities in the areas where abuse is alleged to have occurred have been notified of the accusations.

http://www.greenevillesun.com/story/309110