Twin Cities Archdiocese Releases Names of 5 More Suspected Clerics, All Deceased

By Emily Gurnon
Pioneer Press
May 22, 2014

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_25817329/archdiocese-releases-names-5-more-suspected-clerics-all

The Twin Cities archdiocese has released five additional names of clerics with "substantiated" claims of sexual abuse of a minor.

Three were priests and two were religious brothers. All but one had been the subject of media reports or claims alleging abuse, and all are now dead.

-- Stephen Baker was assigned to the Church of St. Patrick in Inver Grove Heights from 1977-1981 and committed suicide after abuse allegations by stabbing himself in the heart in 2013.

-- Edmund Frost was assigned to the Church of St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis from 1964-1975. The archdiocese stated only that he died "sometime before 2006."

-- Robert Ruglovsky was ordained in 1961 and was assigned to St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic parish in Minneapolis. In 1987, he pleaded guilty to six counts of criminal sexual conduct in Hennepin County District Court and was removed from the ministry that year. He died in 2006.

-- Justin Weger was assigned to numerous archdiocese churches, including St. Stephen's Catholic Church from 1970 to 1971; St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake in 1971; Native American ministry in 1972; and the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis in 1972. He died in 2005.

-- Francis Zachman was assigned to numerous archdiocesan churches, including Assumption Catholic Church in Richfield from 1973-81; the church of St. Albert in Albertville in 1981; St. George Catholic Church in Long Lake in 1981; and the church of St. Casimir in St. Paul in 1982. He died in 1983.

Jeffrey Anderson, a St. Paul attorney who represents plaintiffs in sexual abuse cases, said Thursday he did not immediately recognize the names of Weger and Zachman as known abusers. As for the other three, his office has filed claims involving them, Anderson said.

Weger was on a list disclosed by the Diocese of St. Cloud in March.

All the cases of abuse occurred more than 25 years ago, the archdiocese said in the statement.

"Four of the clerics were members of religious orders and the other was assigned at a Byzantine rite parish within the geographical boundaries of the archdiocese."

The archdiocese said it was making the disclosure as a part of a review of clergy files by Los Angeles-based Kinsale Management Consulting.

Kinsale examined the personnel files of "all men in ministry as clergy in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis at any point from 1970 to the present," a total of 3,333 files, the statement said.

The firm finished its work last month and has shared information with law enforcement.

Tad Vezner contributed to this report. Emily Gurnon can be reached at 651-228-5522. Follow her at twitter.com/emilygurnon.