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	Documents Thrust Defrocked Priest into Spotlight Newly Released Files Accuse 70-Year-Old Mayville Man of Abusing Teen Boys By Colleen Kottke Find Du Lac Reporter February 7, 2008 http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080207/FON0101/802070396/1985 MAYVILLE — Frank-lyn Becker would prefer to live out his remaining days in relative obscurity. However, the release of hundreds of church documents alleging sexual abuse while he served in the ministry has thrust the former Milwaukee priest into the spotlight. Becker, 70, was defrocked by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee two years ago after 40 years as a priest because of allegations that he sexually abused nine teenage boys in Wisconsin and one in California. "I feel that my rights have been violated by the release of these documents," said Becker, contacted at his home in Mayville on Wednesday. "I really can't talk about this." Becker described himself as in fragile health and under the care of a doctor. More than 800 pages of documents detailing the Catholic Church's alleged cover-up of Becker's sexual abuse were released last week to plaintiffs' attorneys as part of a settlement of those cases, said Archbishop Timothy Dolan in a letter posted on the Milwaukee Archdiocese Web site. Last summer, the Wisconsin Supreme Court handed down a decision directing that cases alleging fraud by the archdiocese about sexual abuse by two accused priests of the archdiocese could proceed, even though the events took place 20 to 40 years ago, Dolan wrote. In response to an October 2007 notice that the files were to be unsealed, Becker wrote to his attorney that "the archdiocese has nothing to gain by said documents and everything to lose" Removed from priesthood Since 2004 Becker has been permanently removed from the priesthood and his name released to the media and listed on the archdiocesan Web site. In addition, local law enforcement officials have been advised of his presence and his history as well as local parishes in the area where he lives. With news of Becker's alleged assaults splashed in the news, local citizens are puzzled that they were never notified that an alleged pedophile was living in their midst. The defrocked priest has been living at his Dayton Street address since 1999. "People read this and wonder how on earth this guy can be walking around free. The problem is he has not been convicted of any crime in Wisconsin," said Mayville Police Chief Bill Linzenmeyer. "Anytime you have information about a potential sex offender living in the community, it does pique the interest of people and it rightly should." Community notification meetings are held at the discretion of the state Department of Corrections and local law enforcement agencies upon the release of a registered sex offender, Linzenmeyer said. "We understand the suspicions he's under and we watch that. But there's nothing much we can do. Our position is going to be that he's just another citizen living in Mayville," Linzenmeyer said. Reports investigated Although Becker has never committed any crimes in the city of Mayville, Linzenmeyer said his officers take any complaints against Becker in a serious manner. In the eight years that Becker has lived in Mayville, the Police Department has followed up on a handful of reports regarding the former priest. Two years ago, police investigated a report that Becker was seen going into a boys locker room at the TAG Center in Mayville. According to video surveillance, Becker asked clerks for permission to look around the facility and can be seen entering the locker room and exiting less than a minute later, according to police reports. Concerned that Becker was free and a menace to children, a West Allis woman contacted the Mayville Police Department in May 2005 to report an alleged assault that happened in the city of Mayville 40 years earlier. The woman believes that her young son, now 51, was sexually assaulted by Becker while staying overnight at the home of the priest's mother, according to the report. The woman said she was awakened by an early morning phone call from a Mayville woman reporting that her then-7-year-old son had appeared at the woman's doorstep wearing nothing but his shoes. The next day, Becker allegedly called the woman to say that the child had a nightmare and ran out of the house, according to police reports. The woman reported that Becker was able to "smooth talk" her even though deep down she didn't believe him and didn't want to believe that a priest would lie to her. The woman's son, now incarcerated at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution, said he remembers nothing from the incident. The complaint also notes that a Mayville-based AODA counselor told police that Becker's mother had never lived in the city of Mayville but had lived in the small community of Woodland, according to the report. One of Becker's alleged victims, a 47-year-old Oregon man, contacted Mayville police after visiting the Dodge County community in May 2004 in an attempt to make contact with Becker. After spying several young children playing in the area, the man warned Mayville police that Becker was "a dangerous predator" and that citizens should be notified, according to the report. "The complaints that we've worked on concerning Becker have not resulted in any factual basis that there was a problem with him," Linzenmeyer said.
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