Mark Campobello, Who Was Charged in Aurora, Served Parishes in Rockford and Belvidere.
By Geri Nikolai
Rockford Register Star
January 31, 2008
http://www.rrstar.com/homepage/x603852332
A former Catholic priest, who ministered in Rockford and Belvidere before going to prison for sexually assaulting teenage girls in Kane County, could be released Feb. 13.
Mark Campobello, 43, pleaded guilty in May 2004 to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against two girls who were 14 and 15 at the time. When the abuse occurred in 1999 and 2000, Campobello was assistant principal and spiritual director at Aurora Catholic High School and lived at St. Peter Parish in Geneva. One of the girls was a student at the high school and the other at St. Peter School when the abuse occurred.
Campobello, who has been expelled from the priesthood, was sentenced to four years on each count, to be served consecutively. He earned early release for good behavior, Department of Corrections spokesman Derek Schnapp said.
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Schnapp said Campobello's release hinges on the state's approval of his plans for residence. He would be on parole until Feb. 13, 2012, and would have to register as a sex offender.
Jeffrey Anderson, a Minneapolis lawyer who represented the victims in a lawsuit in which they won $2.2 million from the Rockford Catholic Diocese, is concerned that church officials have not answered for putting Campobello in positions where he could prey upon young girls. In the lawsuit proceedings, Anderson argued that the church had reason to know Campobello was a sexual offender but the court denied him access to all of the priest's personnel records.
Anderson said the girls, who would be about 18 and 19 now, have received counseling and are trying to lead normal lives. One has had a baby, and the other is working and going to school, he said.
Campobello was ordained in Rockford in 1991 and was associate pastor at Holy Family Parish in Rockford until 1994.
That year, he was sent to Geneva as associate pastor at St. Peter. In 1995, he returned to Rockford as associate pastor at the Cathedral of St. Peter and, in 1996, was sent to Holy Angels Parish in Aurora. The next year, he was named assistant principal/spiritual director at Aurora Catholic High and helped out as a priest at St. Peter in Geneva. He was sent to St. Thomas the Apostle in Crystal Lake in 2000 and, in 2001, to St. James in Belvi-dere. He was arrested and relieved of duties at the Belvidere church in December 2002.
He was first charged with 15 counts of sexual assault and abuse of a minor. In 2003, after a second young woman came forward, he received three additional charges of criminal sexual abuse. He accepted a plea bargain in May 2004 and went to the Illinois River Correctional Center near Canton. The Catholic Diocese spokesman did not return a phone call for comment Thursday.
Staff writer Geri Nikolai can be reached at 815-987-1337 or gnikolai@rrstar.com
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