Priest Case Opens "Incident Files"

By Dan Horn
Enquirer
April 27, 2015

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/04/28/priest-settlement-means-release-incident-files/26514603/

A former Cincinnati priest is part of a legal settlement in Minnesota that will open "incident files" about child abuse accusations involving Catholic clergy.

The Rev. Gilbert Allen Tarlton, who worked in Cincinnati in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was sued in 2013 by a man who said the priest abused him when he was a freshman at a Minnesota preparatory school in 1977. The accuser's attorney, Jeff Anderson, said Tuesday that terms of the settlement of a civil lawsuit require the release of Tarlton's files, as well as the files of 18 other priests.

Tarlton, a priest with the Order of St. Benedict, also must release sworn testimony he gave about the case in 2013.

Officials at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said Tarlton's file shows no accusations of abuse during his time in Cincinnati. The archdiocese was ordered to turn over records as part of the accuser's lawsuit in Minnesota, but the archdiocese was not a named defendant and is not part of the settlement.

"We had no accusations here," said archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco.

Anderson said the priest files that will be released involve other members of the Order of St. Benedict and include personnel files and "incident files," which may detail allegations of abuse and how they were handled by superiors. The accuser in Minnesota has not been named and was identified only as "Doe 2" on his lawsuit.

Tarlton worked at St. Mark's and St. Martin de Porres parishes in Cincinnati from 1969 until 1973. He was an associate pastor and teacher at St. Mark's and the administrator at St. Martin de Porres.

Contact: dhorn@enquirer.com