DUNEDIN (FL)
St. Petersburg Times
By JACOB H. FRIES
Published September 27, 2005
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church hired a man now charged with making a lewd proposition to a teenager before seeing the results of his background check, diocesan officials said Monday.
Once received, the check showed William Forte of Dunedin had an arrest record. In 1992, he had been charged in Polk County with showing pornography to six teens, giving them alcohol and paying them for sex. He ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and received six months' probation.
That revelation did not doom Forte's hiring in 2003 as a facilities manager at the Dunedin church, said Vicki Well Bedard, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of St. Petersburg.
"(Forte) was able to assuage their concerns," Bedard said. "They felt his explanation was adequate, and the charges were more than 10 years old. ... They felt satisfied that the case was blown out of portion."