St. Paul Police: Kstp "Inaccurate'; but Not Wrong on Archdiocese Investigation

By Jay Kolls
KSTP
November 14, 2013

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s3217831.shtml

[with video]

KSTP first reported Tuesday that sources confirmed two top officials at the Twin Cities Catholic Archdiocese were part of an investigation.

Sources tell KSTP it is connected to a child pornography case that has been reopened against a priest.

Those same sources say St. Paul Police want to know what Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar General Father Peter Laird knew about the child pornography, when they knew it, and if they knew about it, why they didn't report it to police in a timely manner.

A whistleblower has already, in several interviews, named Archbishop Nienstedt and Father Laird as leaders who knew about the possible child pornography and did not immediately turn it over to authorities.

St. Paul Police held a news conference to say our KSTP report was "inaccurate" and that the two church leaders are not the "focus of an investigation." But, they stopped short of saying our story was wrong.

Matt Entenza is a former prosecutor with the Minnesota Attorney General's Office and the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

He tells us using words like "not the focus of an investigation" and stopping short of saying the story was wrong, "probably means your sources are correct and the two men are most likely part of a broader investigation of obstruction of justice at the Archdiocese."