By Darren Barbee
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
March 7, 2007
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/16850983.htm
Eastland — The Rev. Thomas Teczar was a child predator who used others to help him "lay the groundwork" to find his victims, a Texas Ranger testified Tuesday in the aggravated sexual assault trial of the former Fort Worth Diocese priest.
Teczar, 65, is accused of abusing an 11-year-old boy in the 1990s in Ranger. He pleaded not guilty to charges Tuesday. He waived a trial by jury, meaning that state District Judge Steven Herod will decide his guilt or innocence.
Teczar left Eastland County 14 years ago while police investigated child abuse accusations against his friends Daniel Hawley and DeWilliam Bixler.
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| The Rev. Thomas Teczar, 65, is on trial in Eastland charged with aggravated sexual assault. Photo by The STAR-TELEGRAM/RALPH LAUER |
Both men are now serving long prison terms after their convictions in the 1990s for sexually abusing as many as nine children.
Allegations against Teczar came in 2002 after one of the men's victims told Texas Ranger David Hullum that the priest, about 38 years his senior, also abused him.
The man is not being identified because of the nature of the case. Teczar is believed to be one of the few Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese priests to face criminal sex abuse charges.
Hullum testified that the man was embarrassed and unable to look him in the eye as he described his accusations of abuse by Teczar. Hullum told the court that Teczar encouraged the use of alcohol, drugs and pornography and used Hawley as a "protective layer" between himself and potential victims.
"He used Daniel Hawley as a facilitator, as a forward scout to kind of lay the groundwork," Hullum testified.
In 1993 as police were investigating Hawley, former Eastland County Sheriff Ronnie White interviewed the priest, White testified on Tuesday.
Teczar told the sheriff that he was aware of nude photographs Hawley had taken of several boys and that he had warned Hawley to destroy them, White testified.
Teczar was subpoenaed in 1993 to appear before a grand jury but refused to answer questions, White said. The next day White said he was told that Teczar left town.
Asked by Eastland County District Attorney Russ Thomason whether he believed Teczar was involved in the molestation that resulted in jail sentences for Hawley and Bixler, White answered, "I feel like he was fully involved in it."
But White said his investigation was hampered at the time because officials at the Fort Worth Diocese did not return several messages he left seeking information about the priest.
Diocese officials have said they were unaware of White's inquiries.
White was also a witness in a civil lawsuit against the diocese. In 2005, the diocese settled for $4.15 million a lawsuit with two Teczar accusers, one of whom filed the criminal complaint in Eastland.
White also testified that he believed that Teczar knew about the abuse but failed to report it to law enforcement. In 2005 Teczar told the Star-Telegram, "I didn't know I had an obligation to do that."
Prosecutors on Tuesday first called the priest's brother, Edward Teczar, who lives in Tarrant County, and questioned him about his brother's history in the priesthood. Edward Teczar said his brother is not capable of committing such a crime.
"I know my brother," Edward Teczar said. "I know he's been falsely accused of something he would never do. Ever."
Other witnesses Tuesday painted a far different picture of the priest.
Andrew Grumbles of Arlington told the court he was about 16 or 17 when he delivered marijuana to Teczar or Hawley on several occasions at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Ranger.
Grumbles told the court that the priest offered him Southern Comfort whiskey and showed him pornographic magazines.
Grumbles also testified that he had seen the pictures of several of Hawley's and Bixler's victims.
But questioned by Teczar's attorney, Edwin Youngblood of Fort Worth, Grumbles told the court he had identified the boys from their faces.
Earlier, White, the former sheriff, testified that the pictures apparently did not show the boys' faces, to conceal their identities.
David Lewcon, co-founder of the New England chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, testified that Teczar began abusing him when he was 16 or 17 and Teczar was a priest at his church in Massachusetts.
Lewcon later sought out Teczar's accuser in Ranger and offered him assistance.
But Youngblood raised questions about Lewcon's motivation for testifying, saying that hate and rage had compelled him.
"Is there no forgiveness?" Youngblood asked.
"He's forgiven," Lewcon answered. "What he did, is not."
Testimony will continue today in Eastland's 91st State District Court. Eastland is about 90 miles west of Fort Worth.
Darren Barbee, 817-390-7126 dbarbee@star-telegram.com
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