Woman Says Maplewood Priest LED Her into Sexual Relationship
By Emily Gurnon
A woman parishioner told Maplewood police that she was "led into" a sexual relationship with her pastor while seeking religious and spiritual guidance from him, according to a search warrant affi-davit. The Rev. Mark Huberty, a priest at the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, met the woman in 2008, and she later went to him for counseling, she told police, according to an affidavit for a search warrant filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court in Maplewood. Huberty, 43, has not been charged with a crime. It is a felony for members of the clergy to have a sexual relationship with a person they are counseling or to whom they are providing spiritual advice. The search warrant sought files and documents related to Huberty at the 226 Summit Ave. offices of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and from archdiocese attorneys with the law firm Meier, Kennedy & Quinn, on Wednesday. The receipt attached to the search warrant says only that police retrieved a "priest file" on Huberty. An investigator picked it up from the downtown St. Paul office of archdiocese attorney Tom Wieser, the document said. The woman went to Maplewood police May 1 with the allegations. She turned over about 396 emails she exchanged with Huberty, the affidavit said. Police Detective Alesia Metry wrote that the correspondence led her to believe "that a sexual relationship did occur between Mark Huberty and (the woman) and at the time they were continuing to meet and discuss religious and Catholic faith issues." Metry added that the personnel documents on Huberty "may hold evidence that there are others who have been victimized by Fr. Huberty or ... show a pattern of criminal sexual conduct" by him. Huberty did not respond to a message sent to his church email account. Huberty's attorney, Paul Engh, said in an email, "Fr. Huberty has a markedly different perspective as to what happened." Engh did not elaborate. Prosecutors at the Hennepin County attorney's office are reviewing the case for possible charges, spokesman Chuck Laszewski said Thursday. Hennepin County is handling the case because Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Huberty were in the same high school class at St. Thomas Academy. Huberty was placed on a temporary leave of absence late last month. According to the search warrant affidavit: Huberty and the woman spoke and corresponded often during the time she was seeking counseling and guidance from him. In 2011, he agreed to become her spiritual advisor. The priest continued to counsel the woman while participating in events with her and her family in 2012. In January 2013, Huberty asked to meet with her. "He explained to her that he was lonely and asked her to be his 'friend.' (She) agreed," the affidavit said. The next day, Huberty set up a private email account and asked her to correspond with him there, rather than on his church account. They went on "outings," sometimes alone, sometimes with others. The woman told police that on three or four occasions, Huberty took off his pants and asked her to stimulate him. They went through sexual motions with her clothes remaining on, the affidavit said. On April 11, the woman and Huberty argued. She recorded a phone conversation between them, in which she says, "And everybody that you have done this with is just darn happily back at the church with you saying Mass?" Huberty responds, "As far as I know, any people I've been involved with are still fully part of the life of the church, and whatever I've done with them has not caused irreparable harm to their marriages, um," the search warrant affidavit says. The Pioneer Press generally does not identify people who claim they were sexually abused. A Sept. 22 statement on the archdiocese website explaining his leave said Huberty was the subject of an accusation "by a woman alleging inappropriate touching." He denied the allegations. The statement said Huberty will not be living at the church rectory or exercising parish ministry during the leave. "Father Huberty will remain on leave for as long as is necessary to investigate the situation thoroughly and with justice to all involved," the archdiocese said. Until his leave, Huberty also served as a teaching parish supervisor for the St. Paul Seminary and a mentor for newly ordained priests. Archdiocese spokesman James Accurso said Huberty was temporarily suspended from those duties as well. Huberty served as Presentation's pastor beginning in 2007. Before that, he served at St. Timothy in Maple Lake and St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, according to the church website. The Rev. Peter Laird, who recently resigned as vicar general, Archbishop John Nienstedt's top deputy, is now temporary administrator at Presentation, at 1695 Kennard St. in Maplewood. Laird's departure from the archdiocese leadership came amid media reports that archdiocesan officials failed to report evidence of priest sexual misconduct. Contact: egurnon@pioneerpress.com
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