LANSING, MI (WTVB) – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has released a 144 page report concerning allegations of abuse that took place in the Diocese of Kalamazoo.
This report was for informational purposes only and details investigations that started in 2018.
It contains detailed descriptions of allegations of sexual abuse or assault and other sexual misconduct by priests who are current or former clergy for the Diocese of Kalamazoo that occurred in the Diocese from January 1, 1950, to the present. Of the 19 priests listed, two had ties to Branch County.
One was the Reverend Richard Fritz. The Diocese of Kalamazoo announced in February of 2020 that they have received an allegation of sexual abuse against Fritz which dated back to the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The timeframe indicates the allegation took place long before Fritz began work at St. Mary’s Assumption Catholic Church in Bronson. He served at the Bronson church between 1990 and 2016.
The Diocesan Review Board later deemed the allegation as “credible,” and, as such, Fritz’s priestly faculties were withdrawn.
The other priest with Branch County ties was Father Brian Stanley.
Stanley used to be the pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Coldwater and Our Lady of Fatima in Union City.
He was given a 60 day jail sentence by Allegan County Circuit Court Chief Judge Margaret Bakker in February of 2020 after he entered a guilty plea to Attempted False Imprisonment. Stanley was required to register as a sex offender for 15 years. He was also placed on probation for five years.
Stanley was charged after being accused of holding a teenage boy against his will in the janitor’s room of St. Margaret’s Church in Coloma in 2013.
Stanley reportedly immobilized the young man by wrapping him tightly in plastic wrap, then used masking tape as additional binding and to cover his eyes and mouth. The teen’s parents had taken him to Stanley for counseling due to poor grades and drug use.
Stanley was placed on administrative leave from active ministry in January 2017 and is prohibited from public ministry.
Comments