Michael Sprauer Rebuts Accusers' Accounts of Events
By Alan Gustafson
Statesman Journal
May 11, 2007
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Portland — The Rev. Michael Sprauer told a jury Thursday that multiple sexual abuse accusations against him are "absolutely untrue."
"I never sexually abused any of those that testified during this trial," the Salem priest said, heeding his attorney's directive to look the jurors "right in the eye."
Eight men, all former inmates of the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility, previously testified that they were sexually abused by Sprauer in the 1970s.
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| Rev. Michael Sprauer Photo by |
They described being forced to engage in oral sex and mutual masturbation with the priest in isolation cells, his office, an auditorium broom closet and a car.
Sprauer's assertions of innocence came as the civil trial neared conclusion. Testimony is on track to finish Monday, followed by attorneys' closing arguments.
A jury of seven women and five men then will decide whether Sprauer and the state, which employed him as MacLaren's chaplain, are financially liable for damages sought by the three plaintiffs: Randy Sloan, 49, of Aumsville; Robert Paul Jr., 49, of Salem; and Norman Klettke Jr., 44, of Portland.
| What's next Testimony will resume Monday in the sexual abuse case against the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem. The civil trial concluded its second week Thursday. |
Sloan previously told the jury that Sprauer sexually abused him while taking him home to attend his sister's funeral in July 1975.
As he told it, Sprauer pulled the car onto a gravel road and threatened to put him in an isolation cell if he didn't provide oral sex.
Taking the stand Thursday, Sprauer rebutted Sloan's account.
"I didn't know Mr. Sloan," he said. "I never met him ... I did not take him to his sister's funeral."
Earlier in the week, Gordon Dickey, a former Catholic priest who succeeded Sprauer as MacLaren chaplain in 1975, testified that he transported Sloan home for the funeral. No sexual abuse occurred on the way, Dickey said.
The jury heard another twist in the funeral story Thursday.
Bruce Sloan, 45, testified that he had no doubt that Sprauer was the priest who transported his brother from MacLaren in July 1975.
The priest dropped Randy Sloan off at an irrigation ditch near the family home, south of Aumsville, Bruce Sloan said. That's where his sister had drowned, he said, and family members had gathered at the scene of the tragedy.
Bruce Sloan, 13 at the time, said he met the priest, along with other family members.
"He introduced himself as Father Sprauer," Bruce Sloan told the jury.
In another twist Thursday, Scott Danielson, 51, an ex-convict, testified that one of Sprauer's accusers, Curtis Grecco, tried to get him to go along with a scam to falsely accuse the priest.
Grecco, 49, is a plaintiff in a sex-abuse lawsuit pending against Sprauer in Marion County. He has testified in the Portland case, telling the jury that Sprauer sexually abused him six times at MacLaren in the 1970s. It happened, he said, while he was locked up in a segregation cell.
Danielson, who lives in California, was a juvenile offender at MacLaren in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He told the jury that he and Grecco were inmates together at the Oregon State Penitentiary in the 1990s, and that both were avid boxers.
In September 2002, Danielson said, Grecco called him on his cell phone during a Portland boxing match both men attended at the Rose Garden.
"He wanted to see if I was interested in a way to get a lot of money," Danielson said.
Danielson told the jury that Grecco invited him to participate in a "choreographed" scheme to say the priest was a "rapo."
"I told him to (expletive deleted) off and hung up the phone," Danielson said.
Danielson said he later contacted Thomas Cooney Sr., Sprauer's attorney, to tell him about the alleged scheme.
In June 2003, Grecco was among seven men, all former MacLaren residents, who filed the first in a series of multi-million-dollar sex-abuse lawsuits against Sprauer.
In all, 15 former MacLaren residents have sued Sprauer since 2003. The Portland case is the first to go to trial.
Contact: agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709
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