September 20, 2005

Denver Archdiocese Facing More Sex Abuse Lawsuits

DENVER (CO)
CBS 4

(AP) DENVER Three more sexual abuse lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Denver were to be filed Tuesday, including one that is the first to list allegations naming the late Rev. Leonard A. Abercrombie, the plaintiffs' attorney said.

In all, nine lawsuits this summer, including two of the three being filed Tuesday, have been announced against Harold Robert White, a former priest whom the archdiocese removed from public ministry in 1993. He left the priesthood last year. The archdiocese has declined to publicly discuss the reasons.

The new lawsuits were filed on behalf of Pat Hergenreter and a 52-year-old man identified as John Doe, said lawyer Jeffrey Herman. Hergenreter alleged White abused him numbers of times when White was assigned to a church in Sterling.

"John Doe" alleged White assaulted him over a four-month period. White rented a room to him in the rectory while White was assigned to a church in Minturn.

The third new lawsuit, filed by Roger Colburn, accused Abercrombie of sexually assaulting Colburn on a camping trip when Colburn was age 10 or 11. Colburn is among three men who told The Denver Post that Abercrombie had sexually abused them, beginning in the 1950s.

Posted by kshaw at September 20, 2005 06:03 PM