ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 25, 2005
A clinical psychologist who reviewed sexual abuse complaints for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet has resigned amid allegations that he molested two brothers when he worked for the DuPage County Health Department almost 30 years ago.
Dr. James Carger of Riverside resigned immediately after the allegations surfaced in September but vehemently denies that any abuse took place. "There is no truth to it at all," he said.
Carger resigned, he said, because he did not want to impede the work of the Diocesan Review Committee, a volunteer panel that assesses the credibility of abuse allegations against priests. No criminal charges have been brought against him, and no civil lawsuit has been filed.
Kevin Tretter, 31, and Thomas Tretter, 32, contend that Carger molested them during government-subsidized counseling in 1979 shortly after their mother filed for divorce. Carger's work was not connected with the church at that time.