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	Statements to Police in Alleged Abuse Case Conflict with Report by Owensboro Diocese By Peter Smith The Courier-Journal September 21, 2011 http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110920/NEWS01/309200114/Statements-police-alleged-abuse-case-conflict-report-by-Owensboro-diocese An Owensboro police investigation was unable to confirm reported allegations of sexual abuse made by a suicide victim against a priest, but newly released witness statements conflict with the Diocese of Owensboro’s report that the man never alleged abuse within the church. In the days before he shot himself to death outside Owensboro’s Blessed Mother Catholic Church in February, 23-year-old David Jarboe Jr. had told friends and a lawyer that he was sexually abused by a priest and considered suing the diocese, according to a police investigative report released through an open-records request. Jarboe had also told several people he was long troubled by an incident in which the parish’s former pastor wrestled him to the floor at the rectory when Jarboe was 16 years old. But witness accounts of Jarboe’s varied claims lacked corroboration and specifics, Owensboro police said, and a Daviess County grand jury that reviewed the information did not bring an indictment. On Tuesday the police released a 10-page investigative report in the case filed by Detective Kevin Kabalen, including summaries of interviews with several witnesses. “We conducted a thorough investigation and interviewed everyone that was willing to speak to us that we knew of,” said Sgt. David Powell, an Owensboro police spokesman. While several spoke of the wrestling incident, police determined that “based on those statements, there were no criminal acts committed.” The diocese had hired a retired state police detective to do its own investigation earlier this year. It said in a statement Wednesday that neither police nor its own investigator could “substantiate that David Jarboe had been a victim of sexual abuse within the church.” But the police report does contrast sharply with the diocese’s summary of its investigation, issued in August. The diocese said that, while Jarboe had talked to friends and relatives about past troubles, he “consistently declined to allege that he had been sexually abused within the Church.” In the police report, Jarboe’s girlfriend, three other friends and a lawyer all said Jarboe spoke of being sexually abused by a priest on one or more occasions. The priest named by several witnesses, the Rev. Freddie Byrd, acknowledged to police that he had wrestled with Jarboe and regretted doing so — but he denied any sexual misconduct, the records show. Jarboe, who was an Owensboro Catholic High School football player and graduate, was found lying in the grass at Blessed Mother church on the morning of Feb. 3. Jarboe left a Facebook suicide note referring to sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and said he hoped to “save at least one child from the pain and torment that I had to go through.” But his note lacked specific allegations. Among his farewell messages was one to Byrd, who was pastor at Blessed Mother from 1998 to 2008: “I forgive you.” Byrd remains an active priest with the Diocese of Owensboro as pastor of St. Peter of Antioch and Sacred Heart parishes in Waverly. Reached by phone Wednesday, Byrd said any comment would need to come from the office of Bishop William Medley, which did not immediately reply to follow-up questions about its written statement. Some friends and relatives said Jarboe never spoke of abuse, while others said he was troubled by the wrestling incident. Jarboe’s roommate at the time of the suicide and the roommate’s girlfriend said he spoke of being abused for years by Byrd. The roommate said Jarboe would “go to Blessed Mother and sit in the parking lot until early in the morning, in the days leading up to the suicide, then come back to the apartment, ‘smoke’ and talk about the incidents of abuse.” The roommate said Jarboe told him that he had been molested in the confessional, and that Byrd would make him undress while Byrd undressed and get on top of him, the report said. Numerous people, including Jarboe’s parents, told police that he spoke of the wrestling incident, which some said occurred when he was about 16 and visited Byrd in the parish rectory. An Owensboro police investigation was unable to confirm reported allegations of sexual abuse made by a suicide victim against a priest, but newly released witness statements conflict with the Diocese of Owensboro’s report that the man never alleged abuse within the church. In the days before he shot himself to death outside Owensboro’s Blessed Mother Catholic Church in February, 23-year-old David Jarboe Jr. had told friends and a lawyer that he was sexually abused by a priest and considered suing the diocese, according to a police investigative report released through an open-records request. Jarboe had also told several people he was long troubled by an incident in which the parish’s former pastor wrestled him to the floor at the rectory when Jarboe was 16 years old. But witness accounts of Jarboe’s varied claims lacked corroboration and specifics, Owensboro police said, and a Daviess County grand jury that reviewed the information did not bring an indictment. On Tuesday the police released a 10-page investigative report in the case filed by Detective Kevin Kabalen, including summaries of interviews with several witnesses. “We conducted a thorough investigation and interviewed everyone that was willing to speak to us that we knew of,” said Sgt. David Powell, an Owensboro police spokesman. While several spoke of the wrestling incident, police determined that “based on those statements, there were no criminal acts committed.” The diocese had hired a retired state police detective to do its own investigation earlier this year. It said in a statement Wednesday that neither police nor its own investigator could “substantiate that David Jarboe had been a victim of sexual abuse within the church.” But the police report does contrast sharply with the diocese’s summary of its investigation, issued in August. The diocese said that, while Jarboe had talked to friends and relatives about past troubles, he “consistently declined to allege that he had been sexually abused within the Church.”
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