TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV
By Seamus McGraw
May 5, 2006
TOLEDO, Ohio (Crime Libarary) — Prompted by complaints from parishioners concerned about the presence of Chet Warren, an accused child molester and defrocked priest, at a small chapel inside Blessed Sacrament Church, the Diocese of Toledo has asked a municipal court judge to bar Warren from access to the chapel.
According to documents filed in the Municipal Court of Toledo and provided to Crime Library by local representatives of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) and other church leaders, church officials allege that Warren had violated an agreement to visit the chapel only during specific hours.
In its complaint, filed in December, the Diocese laid out the allegations of past sexual abuse. "Chet Warren has a history of being publicly accused of engaging in illegal and harmful sexual contact with minors at a Toledo Catholic parish in the 1970s," the complaint states. "The Diocese of Toledo has concluded that credible reports and allegations of sexual abuse of minors were made against defendant Warren and has published that conclusion." The complaint also goes on to state that the Bishop of Toledo "has publicly apologized to those victims," and notes that Warren has "been expelled from his religious order. His priestly faculties have been suspended and he is prohibited from any form of religious ministry in the Diocese of Toledo."