Teczar, Formerly of FW Diocese, Convicted in Case Involving Boy, 11
By Brooks Egerton
Dallas Morning News
March 7, 2007
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/030807dnmetpriestabuse.3817772.html
A judge handed down a 25-year prison sentence Wednesday to a priest whose long history of sexual misconduct has already cost the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese more than $4 million in legal settlements.
The Rev. Thomas Teczar was convicted earlier in the day of aggravated sexual assault and indecency with an 11-year-old boy in Eastland County, about 120 miles west of Dallas.
Father Teczar fled Texas during a criminal investigation in the early 1990s after failing to report sexual abuse by two friends in Eastland County and urging one to destroy photographic evidence.
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| Thomas Teczar |
Eastland County authorities have accused the diocese of failing to cooperate in the investigation, which led to the conviction of the two friends. Diocese officials have denied wrongdoing.
Father Teczar returned to his home state of Massachusetts, where his misconduct with boys had led to his removal from the ministry in the 1980s.
Fort Worth Bishop Joseph Delaney, now dead, then hired the priest to work in Texas.
Complaints about the priest's behavior in Texas surfaced in the early 2000s and led to Wednesday's convictions.
The victim in that case, who asked not to be identified, said the conviction would promote healing.
"The best therapy was seeing him handcuffed and taken out of the Eastland County Courthouse," said the young man, who is now in his 20s.
The complaints in the early 2000s also led to civil litigation and the discovery of records showing that past diocese leaders had concealed sexual abuse by Father Teczar and several other priests.
Those records were sealed until November, when The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram won a long legal fight for their release.
E-mail: begerton@dallasnews.com
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