myfox9.com (Twin Cities)
Posted: Oct 09, 2012 2:13 PM
Updated: Oct 09, 2012 2:13 PM
by Mike Durki
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
Additional charges of child pornography have been filed against a former St. Paul priest accused of sexually abusing two young brothers.
Curtis Carl Wehmeyer, 48, has been charged in Ramsey County with 15 counts of possession of child pornography. Those charges come on top of second and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct charges filed last month for the alleged sexual abuse of two boys who were part of Blessed Sacrament Catholic parish in St. Paul.
Wehmeyer will make his first appearance on all charges Wednesday afternoon in Ramsey District Court.
According to the criminal complaint, a search warrant was executed on the rectory of the church as part of the sexual abuse investigation. After conducting a forensic exam on a seized laptop, investigators found a number of “still images and video clips depicting sex acts involving prepubescent males”.
“As the parish priest for this family, the defendant betrayed a sacred trust and forever marred the innocence of two young victims,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. “We will pursue justice for the family as well as and the community.”
St. Paul Police encourage anyone who believes they may be a victim of sex abuse to contact them at 651-266-8685.
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Oakdale priest, 47, charged in sex assault of boy, 12
TwinCities.com
Posted: 09/20/2012 12:01:00 AM CDT
Updated: 09/21/2012 04:48:16 PM CDT
By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
Curtis Carl Wehmeyer (Courtesy of Ramsey County sheriff’s office)
An Oakdale priest has been charged with criminal sexual conduct involving a 12-year-old boy.
The boy reported to his mother that Curtis Carl Wehmeyer, 47, who was, at the time, pastor of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, had been sexually abusing him in a camper trailer in the church parking lot, according to a criminal complaint.
The priest owned the trailer.
Church officials went to the rectory June 21 after the mother called police and “advised defendant that he was immediately relieved of his duties and instructed to leave the premises,” said the complaint, filed late Thursday, Sept. 20, in Ramsey County District Court.
The abuse allegedly took place in the summer of 2010.
During an examination at the Midwest Children’s Resource Center at Children’s Hospital in St. Paul, the boy said Wehmeyer had given him beer and marijuana and showed him pornographic images and videos in the camper trailer, the complaint said.
While doing so, Wehmeyer had the boy remove his pants and underwear; he then touched him and exposed his own genitals, according to the complaint.
The victim “stated that the defendant told him if he told anyone he would no longer be able to be a priest and the parish would fall apart without him,” the complaint said.
Other details in the complaint included:
The boy reported that the last incident took place a week before his 13th birthday. A male relative of the boy was present during some episodes and also was molested by Wehmeyer, police found.
In particularly, the boy’s male relative said that on a camping trip, he and Wehmeyer shared a bed. He tried to “put up a barricade of pillows and blankets to separate himself from the defendant while they slept,” but would awaken to Wehmeyer touching his private parts.
Wehmeyer was arrested on the allegations June 22. He asked to speak to an attorney and declined to answer police questions.
A phone number for Wehmeyer could not be found late Thursday.
Emily Gurnon can be reached at 651-228-5522. Follow her at twitter.com/emilygurnon.