Priest Accused of Child Sex Abuse Found in Poland

Miami Herald
October 2, 2013

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/02/3664468/priest-accused-of-child-sex-abuse.html

WARSAW, Poland -- Polish police said Wednesday they have located a priest sought by Interpol on suspicion he sexually abused children in the Dominican Republic.

The Rev. Wojciech Gil, a Pole, was found in a location near the southern city of Krakow, police spokeswoman Katrzyna Cislo told The Associated Press. He was not detained because Interpol only asked to locate him. Gil, 36, was instructed to notify police of any change of location.

Cislo said that to arrest him, the police would need a request from Dominican investigators. Poland does not have an extradition treaty with the Dominican Republic.

A spokesman for Polish prosecutors said they are also investigating whether Gil committed any wrongdoing in Poland. He brought Dominican altar boys a few times on vacation to Poland and lodged them at his parents' house in Modlnica, near Krakow, and at the parish house, Polish media have reported.

Gil was in Poland on vacation when the allegations surfaced in late May and has not returned to the Dominican Republic, where he led a parish in the mountain town of Juncalito for eight years. He has been suspended by his superior and ordered to return to the Dominican Republic and face the investigators.

He has denied wrongdoing in phone calls to Dominican reporters.

Dominican Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito has indicated he wanted Gil to be tried there.

The father of one of the alleged victims has charged that his son was molested by the priest for about three years. At least two more victims are mentioned by the investigators.

Dominican authorities are also investigating the former Vatican ambassador to the Caribbean country, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, also a Pole, over allegations of sexual abuse of teenage boys. His whereabouts are unknown since the Vatican removed him as apostolic nuncio on Aug. 21 after the allegations against him were made public. Poland's church officials say they have no knowledge of his whereabouts.