COLUMBUS (OH)
Dayton Daily News
By From Staff and Wire Reports
COLUMBUS | The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed sexual abuse accusations against a former Dayton-area priest who was accused of abusing boys over three decades.
The court unanimously ruled that the statute of limitations had expired on allegations of racketeering and sexual abuse between 1961 and 1987.
In a 2003 lawsuit, a former server from the Cincinnati area accused the Rev. Lawrence Strittmatter of repeatedly molesting him and sometimes forcing his way into the boy's home.
The man, now in his 30s, alleged that he was sexually abused in the 1980s while at Our Lady of Victory Church in Delhi Twp. outside Cincinnati. The court combined his case with 21 others that alleged abuse by Strittmatter. None of the plaintiffs were identified. The archdiocese of Cincinnati and Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk also were defendants.
The archdiocese assigned Strittmatter, now 72, to be associate pastor of St. Albert the Great Church in Kettering in 1988 after he was removed from a Cincinnati church because of a substantiated abuse allegation. He was required to undergo psychological therapy.