Activists Demand Larry Stukenholtz Be Fired after Molestation Lawsuit Settlement
Webster-Kirkwood Times
October 12, 2007
http://www.websterkirkwoodtimes.com/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=2007-10-12&-token.story=70285.113117&-token.subpub
Officials at St. Louis Community College say they are looking into allegations that the music director on the Meramec campus in Kirkwood has a history of sexual abuse.
Larry Stukenholtz, who has denied the allegations, has been employed by the community college district since 2001.
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Last week, the Catholic Church settled a sexual molestation lawsuit in California in which Stukenholtz was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl at a school where he was once an instructor. On Oct. 5, Stukenholtz case and three others were settled with the Roman Catholic Diocese in Orange County.
The amount of the settlement exceeded $6.5 million. Sarah Gray, a victim who was at first unnamed in the action, has decided to go public. She alleged that Stukenholtz raped her in 1998 when he was choir director at Mater Dei High School, a Catholic school in Santa Ana, Calif.
At a demonstration conducted outside the community college headquarters on South Broadway in downtown St. Louis, activists with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), read a statement from Gray, 26, who is now a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"Dr. Larry Stukenholtz should not be able to simply move to a new state, start a new life, and the forget the irreparable harm he has caused me," noted the statement by Gray. "Dr. Stukenholtz aggressively sought out and sexually abused me; he presents a danger to the community and the young students under his control."
National SNAP Director David Clohessy said Monday: "We believe the community college has a sexual predator on its payroll. Students and staff should be protected from him."
Pat Crowe, a college spokeswoman, said Wednesday that Stukenholtz remains a paid employee at Meramec. She said college officials are looking into the allegations and are trying to learn more of the details of the lawsuit settlement by the Catholic Diocese in California.
"We are trying to learn the facts of the situation at this point," said Crowe. "We just don't know that much about the allegations, and it remains a personnel matter that will require us to do a review of all the information available."
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