Attorney General's office handling case against priest due to Jackson prosecutor's close ties to Catholic community

By Theresa Ghiloni
MLive
June 1, 2015

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2015/06/attorney_generals_office_pursu.html

James Rapp

JACKSON, MI – A former Jackson priest is being charged with 13 counts of criminal sexual conduct for alleged crimes 30-years later to ensure "justice delayed is not justice denied" for the victims in the case, the Attorney General's office said.

The case against James Rapp, 75, is being handled by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette's office at the request of the local prosecutor, Jackson County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kati Rezmierski said.

Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka requested a special prosecutor to avoid a possible conflict of interest, Rezmierski said, as he has close ties to Jackson Lumen Christi High School, where Rapp taught during the alleged assaults. Rezmierski said Jarzynka's children attended the school and his wife works there.

The Attorney General's office agreed to step in as a special prosecutor.

Rapp served as a priest, teacher, maintenance supervisor and wrestling coach during his time at Lumen Christi High School from 1980-86, when the alleged crimes occurred, according to a statement from Schuette's office.

He was arraigned on three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and 10 counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in Jackson County District Court Thursday, May 28.

The judge ordered he be held on a $1 million bond.

Rapp is being held in a Michigan prison as he is serving a 40-year prison sentence for lewd molestation charges he pleaded no contest to in 1999 for crimes committed in Duncan, Oklahoma.

In the mid-1990s, two separate Lumen Christi students brought lawsuits against Rapp. A lawsuit filed in 1994 also named the Oblates of St. Francis De Sales, the religious order Rapp belonged to, as a defendant. A 1995 lawsuit filed by a separate student also named the Jackson Area Catholic School Board and the Diocese of Lansing as defendants.

According to reports in the Jackson Citizen Patriot, the lawsuits sought damages in excess of $10,000 caused by sexual abuse.

The 1994 case was settled out of court, and the 1995 case was eventually dismissed after the defense argued the suit was not filed within the statute of limitations.

Schutte's office said Thursday the statute of limitations on criminal sexual conduct in Michigan "tolls" or stops, once a suspect moves out of state. In Rapp's case, he left Michigan in 1987 and went to Napperville, Ill., and did not return in recently to face the charges.

The statute of limitations for second-degree criminal sexual conduct is 10 years. There is no statute of limitations for first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Rapp was ordained in 1959. He went on to work in Philadelphia from 1959-61; Salt Lake City from 1968-73; Lockport, N.Y., from 1979-80; Naperville, Ill., from 1987-90; and Duncan, Okla., from 1990-98, according to the Attorney General's office.

In 2002 the Catholic church agreed to a settlement against Rapp for $5 million brought by a victim in the case against him in Duncan, Okla., according to previous Jackson Citizen Patriot reports.

A preliminary examination conference for Rapp  is scheduled for June 26.

Each count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct carries a maximum sentence of up to life in prison and each count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct carries a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison.