ST. LOUIS (MO)
Columbia Daily Tribune
Published Tuesday, June 28, 2005
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A former St. Louis priest recently released from prison after sexual misconduct convictions were overturned faces a new sexual abuse lawsuit.
Tony Pettus of south St. Louis claims in the lawsuit filed yesterday that he went on a camping trip to Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park, in southeast Missouri, in 1970 or 1971 with priest James Beine and six boys from St. Andrew’s parish in St. Louis. Pettus said he awakened to find the priest touching his penis.
Attorney Ken Chackes said Pettus was about 11 at the time. The lawsuit claims he has suffered psychological damage as a result of the incident. The Archdiocese of St. Louis and Archbishop Raymond Burke also are named.
Beine, 63, was released from the Farmington Correctional Center on June 2 after serving more than two years for allegedly exposing himself to children in a boys bathroom at a St. Louis grade school where he was working as a counselor.