July 21, 2005

Former Janesville man testifies in priest's sex abuse trial

MADISON (WI)
Janesville Gazette

(Published Thursday, July 21, 2005 10:50:39 AM CDT)

By Sid Schwartz
Gazette Staff

MADISON-A former Janesville man who in March told The Janesville Gazette he was sexually abused by a priest as a child testified Wednesday against the priest in a church trial.

"We'll have to wait and see what happens out of the trial," Christopher Leonard said after testifying Wednesday afternoon.

He said he was sworn to secrecy about his testimony.

"I was under oath. I have to respect that," he said.

"But I can say that there wasn't anything that I told you that I probably didn't testify to."

In March, Leonard told the Gazette that in 1975 the Rev. Kenneth Klubertanz, then a priest at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Janesville, took him camping in northern Wisconsin. While they bathed naked in a lake, Leonard said, Klubertanz sexually assaulted him.

Posted by kshaw at July 21, 2005 05:04 PM