OELWEIN (IA)
Courier
By PAT KINNEY, Assistant City Editor
OELWEIN --- A third sexual abuse civil suit has been filed against a former Oelwein priest over alleged incidents in the mid-1950s.
The suit filed Tuesday in Fayette County District Court by a client identified as John Doe IV alleges the Rev. William Goltz sexually abused him in 1954 when the plaintiff was 12 years old and Goltz was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Oelwein.
The suit alleges Goltz drove the plaintiff to a location along the Wapsipinicon River near Independence and abused him while allowing him to help drive the vehicle.
Goltz and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque are named as co-defendants in the action. The suit alleges the archdiocese either "knew, or should have known, of Goltz' propensity to and intention to sexually abuse young men." The suit seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages. It is the third such suit filed in Fayette County against Goltz this year.
Previous suits allege then-Dubuque Archbishop Leo Binz conducted a formal church or canonical trial at that time, found Goltz guilty of similar incidents and removed him from responsibilities but did not report the incidents to civil authorities.