U-d Jesuit Grad Angry over Priest Videotaping Scandal
By Tresa Baldas
Twice now, Mike Baitinger has been blindsided by shocking allegations about his confirmation sponsor: a priest he knew as the kind and generous Father Kurtz. His image of Kurtz was first shattered in 2011, when Kurtz was charged with -- and ultimately convicted of -- molesting a University of Detroit Jesuit High School student during a trip to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. Then came the second blow. On Monday, Baitinger read in the Free Press that Richard James Kurtz, 69, a former chemistry teacher at U of D Jesuit, was charged with child pornography crimes. He is accused of videotaping the school's hockey team players while they changed in the locker room during the 1998-99 season. Baitinger was a freshman that year. He played hockey. His mind went numb. "First it was shock. And the second emotion was anger," Baitinger said. "I was angry that this could happen, angry that he was doing this." But his anger quickly subsided. "It became compassion for the people who are affected by his actions," Baitinger said, noting he harbors no bad feelings for his alma mater. "It wasn't U of D's fault. It was his fault. I blame him. I don't blame anyone else." No attorney of record has been listed in court documents for Kurtz. Baitinger, 30, of Detroit, said he has decided to speak out to make sure that something like this never happens again. After reading the article, he decided he would go to the authorities. Today, he called the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office, his school and the Jesuit order, offering to help in any way he can. "I'm not going to be quiet about it," Baitinger said. "It's not something that you can just brush under the rug. That's not what U of D taught me. They taught me to stand up for injustices no matter who they happened to or when they happened." Baitinger, now a youth hockey coach, said he's also concerned about protecting his players from getting harmed, especially by a person of trust. "To have that trust betrayed is awful," he said. "If anything would happen to one of these kids, I don't know what I would do." Baitinger said he's not sure if he's on any of the videotapes that Kurtz allegedly made. He said he's not concerned about being "a passive victim." But what does concern him, he said, is why it took more than 10 years to find out about the alleged locker room videotaping. "We weren't notified about the locker room case until the Free Press broke the story. But to be fair, I don't think the school knew about the tapes, either," Baitinger said, noting some of his former teammates also have expressed frustration. "We're upset that this happened ... they're angry that it happened, and they're frustrated at the lack of communication." Despite being frustrated, Baitinger said, "I trust that my school did act accordingly." U-D fired Kurtz in 2001, immediately after learning that one of its students had accused Kurtz of molesting him during a trip to Colorado. The school reported Kurtz to Child Protective Services. "James Kurtz has had no affiliation with U of D Jesuit since that time," U of D Jesuit President Karl Kiser said in a statement Monday. "The safety and well-being of our students is of primary importance to all of us at U of D Jesuit. We do not tolerate any form of abuse at the school, and we absolutely do not support any efforts to protect abusers." Kurtz, meanwhile, avoided prosecution for years. He was fired in 2001 over the molestation accusation, but he wasn't arrested or charged until a decade later, while he was living in Chicago. He pleaded guilty in 2012. He did not get prison time but is currently serving a 10-years-to-life term of supervised probation in confinement in Missouri. It took another two years for the child pornography allegations to surface. According to court documents, here's how it happened: Following Kurtz's arrest in 2011, two Jesuit priests discovered evidence of possible child pornography in Kurtz's belongings in Chicago and at his former residence in Clarkston. They turned the information over to the FBI. An FBI investigation revealed that Kurtz was videotaping U of D hockey players in the locker room after games. The FBI also discovered that Kurtz was transferring other child porn from Clarkston to Chicago, and keeping other child porn in Clarkston. The allegations stunned Baitinger, who knew Kurtz for years but never saw anything that was out of the ordinary. "My memories of him are not negative," Baitinger said. "A lot of people were close with him. It wasn't weird that he was friendly because he was friendly with a lot of people. He would lead team prayers and be involved with the hockey team. He was always a very kind and generous guy. You can trust priests, right?" Baitinger, who graduated in 2002 from U-D, kept in touch with Kurtz until about 2005. He said Kurtz would send him birthday cards and confirmation anniversary notes, and he often wrote back.?? Then came the scandalous allegations. First, the molestation charges. Now the videotaping accusations. "I'm certainly disappointed in him," Baitinger said. "He did what he did. And that's what he has to atone for." He added: "He was a trusted person in the Jesuit community, and that trust was betrayed unfortunately." Contact Tresa Baldas at 313-223-4296 or tbaldas@freepress.com
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