By Kacie Breeding
The Times-News
February 2, 2011
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9029549
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| William Casey |
A hearing in the case of a former Kingsport priest accused of sexually abusing a boy in the 1970s has been put off to later this month.
William Casey, 76, 740 Shakerag Road, Greeneville, Tenn., faces charges of first-degree sexual misconduct and two counts of aggravated rape in Blountville court. He was scheduled for a motions hearing on the charges on Wednesday, but it has been reset to Feb. 24.
Casey's charges stem from allegations that he sexually molested a boy shortly after becoming priest of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Kingsport in the 1970s.
Warren Tucker, 44, who now lives in Jeffersonville, Ind., alleges that the abuse began when he was 10 and lasted until he was about 15 years of age, occurring more than 50 times.
Tucker said the abuse happened in the church rectory, which still stands near the school, although the original church building burned in the 1980s.
Court records include a "preliminary transcript" of a September 10, 2009, phone call Tucker made to Casey. The transcript was provided by the McDowell County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina, where some of the alleged abuse occurred.
According to the transcript, the conversation begins with Tucker asking if Casey remembers him. At one point Tucker allegedly asks Casey, "Do you think that you may have been attracted to me because I might have been gay?"
Casey allegedly responds, "No, I just loved you like my son..(not understood)...but, I just loved you like a son."
During another exchange, Casey allegedly tells Tucker, "We're friends in a way that nobody else has ever filled."
Casey suggests they get together for a meal, and asks about getting Tucker's phone number. Casey allegedly tells him, "What I want to do if I can be an advisor, or encourager, or whatever, I want to be that for ya."
Toward the end of the call, Casey allegedly again reiterates an apparent desire to resume a friendship with Tucker, telling him, "there's just something about a friend, a true friend that you never forget and will never forget."
Tucker allegedly tells Casey he'd like to be friends as well, but allegedly adds, "But I guess, I mean I've been kinda conflicted so I don't want you to think that I'm, you know, trying to get back with ya to do the things like we did when I was kid, you know, sexual things, I just want us to be like friends."
Casey allegedly agrees, "That's the boundary."
Just before the call ends, Casey says he'll write Tucker's number down so they can keep in touch. "We'll be, you know...care about each other..." he says.
Tucker interrupts, "Have a good one."
Casey continues, "...in the right kind of way."
Casey has already pleaded guilty to similar charges in McDowell County, N.C., and he has additional charges pending in Scott County, Va.
Tucker’s allegations were made public in April of 2010, and by that time Casey had retired from the Notre Dame Parish in Greeneville. He was subsequently suspended from the Catholic ministry pending completion of the laicization process.
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