Maplewood Priest in Sex Case Involved with Other Women, Prosecutor Says

By Emily Gurnon
Pioneer Press
May 1, 2014

http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_25677148/maplewood-priest-sex-case-involved-other-women-prosecutor

Mark Andrew Huberty makes his way to Ramsey County District Court in December. (Pioneer Press: Emily Gurnon)

A Catholic priest in Maplewood charged with criminal sexual conduct with a woman had been involved in other relationships at a previous parish, according to a court document.

Mark Andrew Huberty, formerly pastor of Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was charged in November with criminal sexual conduct involving a parishioner there who sought his spiritual advice.

The prosecutor has now asked the court to allow evidence of "previous bad acts," known as Spreigl evidence, to be heard by the jury. She also wants to admit evidence "regarding the pornography found on defendant's computer and his activities on Internet dating sites: match.com, fling.com, christianmingle.com and ashleymadison.com as evidence of intent."

Mark Andrew Huberty (Courtesy of Ramsey County sheriff's office)

The site ashleymadison.com describes itself as "the most famous name in infidelity and married dating."

Huberty allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship with one woman and attempted to do so with another while he was a priest at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in St. Anthony, according to a memorandum filed by prosecutor Therese Galatowitsch on April 23 in Ramsey County District Court. He also "has been engaging in an ongoing sexual relationship" with another woman from Presentation, another court document said. The prosecution wants court permission to talk with the woman.

Huberty's attorney, Paul Engh, said the new evidence is not clear and convincing or relevant and would be overly prejudicial to the priest if the jury were to hear it.

Engh said neither of the women from the previous parish wants to be a part of the state's case against Huberty.

Huberty was not charged with a crime in the previous cases. Both women were parishioners at St. Charles Borromeo.

The prosecution's memorandum details the following allegations:

From about July 2000 to April 2001, Huberty had a sexual relationship with a woman identified as Witness A. Huberty, 43, set up an email account through which the two could exchange intimate messages. He invited her to accompany him to a ski resort. On a spiritual retreat, someone saw Huberty kissing the woman. He was also seen "spending the night with her in her bedroom," the memorandum alleges.

The woman's husband reported the incident to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Huberty "instructed Witness A not to disclose the true facts of the relationship to the archdiocese," the memo said.

In approximately 2000, the memo continues, Huberty made sexual advances toward another woman. On one occasion, when she was at the church late, Huberty "invited her into his bedroom at the parish house," the memorandum said. She declined.

The cleric also "engaged in unwanted sexual touching," including touching her breasts and "inappropriately" putting his hands on her hips on other occasions, the memo said.

Huberty's actions made her uncomfortable. She confronted him and told another priest, then cut off contact with him.

The state said it has eyewitness and other corroborating evidence for the incidents involving both of these women.

Engh, the defense attorney, argued in an opposing memorandum that the evidence should not be admitted at trial.

He said Witness A described Huberty as "nothing but a good friend to her." The relationship was consensual; she never went to police and "made no admissions" when interviewed by the archdiocese, Engh said in his memo.

The second woman "never felt that Huberty was her spiritual advisor," Engh wrote, an element that would be required if the sexual activity were to be considered illegal.

That the alleged incidents occurred 13 to 14 years ago makes it less likely to be relevant to the current case, the defense attorney said.

"But the most important consideration is this," Engh wrote. "The admission of other crime evidence undermines Fr. Huberty's presumption of innocence.

"... At the end of the day, what the state wants the jury to do is confuse the befriending of a parishioner with a propensity to manipulate," Engh wrote. "The state wants a ... perverse curiosity. To have the jury wonder what the point of all this evidence is. So that they may decide it proves a proclivity, an illicitness, that Fr. Huberty is a bad guy even though the law presumes that he is not."

Engh has said that his client has a different interpretation of what took place with the complainant in the current case.

Huberty is scheduled to appear in court May 15.

Emily Gurnon can be reached at 651-228-5522. Follow her at twitter.com/emilygurnon.