October 07, 2005

Five sue Wisconsin dioceses in sex case

LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal

By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Four Louisville men and a Southern Indiana resident have sued two Roman Catholic dioceses in Wisconsin, alleging that officials there were negligent in failing to alert police to a sexually abusive teacher who later abused them in Louisville.

The lawsuit alleges that Gary Kazmarek abused numerous victims at Wisconsin parochial schools in the 1960s and that church officials knew, but failed to report him to police or do anything else to stop him.

Instead, the lawsuit alleges, they let him quietly leave for new schools in other cities each time he got into trouble.

"The negligent conduct of the two (dioceses) was a substantial factor" in Kazmarek later coming to Louisville and abusing more children, the five allege in the lawsuit, filed Monday in Milwaukee. The plaintiffs seek unspecified financial damages.

Kazmarek, 64, is serving a 13-year sentence at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex near La Grange after pleading guilty in 2003 to sexually abusing the five Louisville-area plaintiffs, all of whom were under 15 at the time.

Posted by kshaw at October 7, 2005 09:03 AM