AUSTRALIA
The Dallas Morning News
By Reese Dunklin
rdunklin@dallasnews.com
3:41 pm on April 3, 2014
I found Frank Klep giving candy to Samoan children in 2004, far from the criminal charges against him in Australia. Now he awaits sentencing on even more charges. (File)
Perhaps the most notorious priest from our 2004-2005 investigation into the global transfers of sexually abusive clergy apologized to his victims today in court.
But Frank Klep’s words were of little comfort, according to The Age newspaper in Australia.
Some victims — former students of his at an all-boys Catholic boarding school — walked out as he started reading a prepared statement.
“I abused your trust and betrayed you in the most appalling circumstances, for that I am truly sorry,” Klep said during a Melbourne hearing in advance of sentencing later this month.
This is Klep’s third pass through the justice system. He agreed last December to plead guilty to 12 charges, down from the 34 originally filed. That prosecution grew out of a 2012 government child-abuse inquiry and involves 14 now-grown victims.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.