“Arvada Ex-Priest Charged With 2001 Sex Assault Of Tulsa Boy” & related articles

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EVANSTON, IL — A former Catholic priest who is a resident of Arvada was slapped with allegations that he sexually abused a boy in an Evanston hotel room in 2001. Kenneth Lewis, 56, was taken into custody May 9 after returning from Ecuador, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

As a priest in Oklahoma in the 1990s, Lewis was accused of child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Tulsa. He reportedly underwent psychiatric treatment and returned to active ministry in 1995.

The parents of a 13-year-old boy made allegations that Lewis sexually molested their son on a trip in late July 2001. The parents reported the allegations to Tulsa police in 2004, and Tulsa police forwarded the case to Evanston, which did not take up the investigation until now, 14 years later, the Sun-Times reported.

Lewis left the priesthood in 2007 after sex abuse claims against him were found credible by the Archdiocese of Tulsa.

In 2010, two parents using the names John and Jane Doe sued the Archdiocese of Tulsa and Bishop Edward Slattery alleging that their son had been sexually abused by Lewis in 2001. It is not clear if these are the parents of the same boy.

After Evanston authorities submitted felony charges in December, 2017 to the Cook County State’s Attorney, a judge issued a nationwide $100,000 warrant for Lewis’ arrest, the Evanston police said.

Lewis was arrested on the warrant by U.S. customs agents at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when he landed back in the U.S. Deputies from the Cook County Sherriff’s Police Fugitive Unit brought Lewis back to Illinois. Although his permanent address is in Arvada, Lewis has been living primarily in Ecuador since last summer, according to Cook County prosecutors.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved one felony count of predatory sexual assault of a child.Lewis appeared in bond court Saturday. He is due back in court May 22.

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Former priest charged with sexually abusing teen in 2001

The Norman Transcript   (Norman Oklahama)

22 May 2018

Former priest charged with sexually abusing teen in 2001
This undated photo provided by the Evanston Police Department in Evanston, Ill., shows, Kenneth Lewis. Lewis, A former Catholic priest has been charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in a suburban Chicago hotel in 2001 after police reopened an investigation that had been dormant for more than a decade. Lewis of Arvada, Colo., is charged with felony criminal predatory sexual assault. He posted bail after a court hearing in Chicago on Saturday May 19, 2018. (Evanston Police Departmentvia AP)

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EVANSTON, Ill. — A former Catholic priest has been charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in a suburban Chicago hotel in 2001 after police reopened an investigation that had been dormant for more than a decade.

Fifty-six-year-old Kenneth Lewis of Arvada, Colorado, is charged with felony criminal predatory sexual assault. He posted bail after a court hearing in Chicago on Saturday.

Evanston Police Commander Ryan Glew said the alleged assault occurred when the then-priest accompanied the boy and his family on a trip from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Evanston.

He said the family reported the incident in 2004 but prosecutors declined to charge Lewis.

He said an Evanston detective reopened the investigation last fall and an arrest warrant was issued for Lewis. Lewis left the priesthood in 2007.

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EPD charges Colorado resident with sexual assault of boy in Evanston hotel in 2001

The Daily Northwestern

21 May 2018

Syd Stone, City Editor

Kenneth Lewis.

Source: Evanston Police Department

Kenneth Lewis.

Evanston Police Juvenile Bureau arrested a 56-year-old Colorado resident Friday in connection with a 2001 criminal sexual assault incident.

Arvada, Colorado, resident Kenneth Lewis was charged with sexual assault against a minor stemming from an incident that took place in an Evanston hotel in July 2001, according to an Evanston Police Department news release. Lewis, who was a Catholic priest at the time of the incident, was with the boy’s family on a trip to Evanston. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the alleged assault occurred at 1501 Sherman Ave., the current location of the Holiday Inn Chicago North.

The boy assaulted was a 13-year-old resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the time. The boy’s parents reported the incident to Tulsa police in 2004, and Tulsa police then reported the incident to EPD.

Lewis was not charged as part of the initial investigation because the state declined to charge him, Evanston police Cmdr. Ryan Glew told The Daily.

Stephen Komie, Lewis’s private attorney, told the Sun-Times that Lewis, who has not yet been arraigned or indicted, is expecting to enter a not guilty plea.

According to the EPD news release, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Evanston Police Juvenile Bureau reopened the investigation in 2017, which led to an arrest warrant for Lewis for predatory sexual assault of a child. The warrant was issued on Dec. 27, 2017.

Lewis was in Ecuador when the warrant was issued, but was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents upon returning to the U.S. on May 9 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He was then transported back to Illinois by the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Fugitive Unit, and the EPD took custody of Lewis on Friday.

According to the Sun-Times, U.S. officials were flagged when Lewis purchased a plane ticket from Ecuador to Atlanta in March. It is not clear why Lewis was living in Ecuador for about a year and a half.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved one felony count of predatory sexual assault of a child, the EPD news release stated.

At Lewis’ initial court appearance Saturday, a Cook County prosecutor attempted to read the details of two additional charges of criminal sexual abuse of the same boy, but the attempt was denied because the charges weren’t filed in time for the hearing, the Sun-Times reported.

According to the Sun-Times, Lewis has faced an “extensive history” of sexual abuse allegations. Bishop Edward Slattery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa sent Lewis to treatment in 1994 after Slattery was made aware of as many as six people who had made accusations against the priest, stemming from the early 1990s. Those allegations were investigated at the time, but authorities could not file charges because the statute of limitations had expired.

Lewis was allowed to return to active ministry in 1995 after finishing treatment with a special order not to spend time alone with children, the Sun-Times reported. He served as an associate pastor at several Oklahoma churches and was later appointed pastor of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in McAlester, Oklahoma.

In 2002, Lewis resigned from his position at St. John after claims surfaced that he improperly touched young boys in 1993 and 1994. He was then barred from further work as an ordained minister.

Komie told the Sun-Times that Lewis denies the “historical” allegations as well. Lewis will appear in court later this week.

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Former priest faces child sex assault charge

Evanston Now

May 21, 2018 – 9:47am

Kenneth Lewis. (EPD photo)

A 56-year-old former priest from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kenneth Lewis, has been charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in an Evanston hotel room in July 2001.

The arrest was first reported this morning by the Chicago Sun-Times. The incident took place at what’s now the Holiday Inn at 1501 Sherman Ave.

Update 3:15 p.m.: Evanston police this afternoon said the victim, a Tulsa resident, was on a visit to Evanston with his family and Lewis when the incident occurred.

The boy’s parents reported the incident to police in Tulsa nearly three years after the alleged assault. It was not immediately clear what led to the long delay in filing charges, but Evanston police say Lewis could not be charged as part of the initial investigation.

Last year, Cmdr. Ryan Glew says, the Evanston Police Juvenile Bureau and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office reopened the investigation, which led to the issuance a warrant for his arrest on Dec. 27.

Lewis reportedly was living in Ecuador for most of the past year. He was arrested when he flew back from Ecuador to Atlanta, Georgia, on May 9.

Lewis attended the St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in suburban Mundelein between 1987 and 1991 but apparently was never assigned to work as a priest in the Chicago area. According to the Sun-Times, he has faced an extensive history of sexual abuse allegations in Oklahoma.

An attorney for Lewis says he denies the charges and that he intends to enter a not guilty plea.

He’s next scheduled to appear in cout at the Cook Court House at 26th and California in Chicago on Tuesday..

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