MINNESOTA
Austin Daily Herald
By Trey Mewes
He was a gifted theologian, a man who was expected to become a leader. He was a passionate priest who volunteered in the community, helped the Boy Scouts and was a chaplain for the National Guard.
He preyed upon high school-aged boys and sexually assaulted several Austin teens during his time in the community. He allegedly plied elementary students with drugs and alcohol. He was forced to leave the Catholic Church after he molested another man.
He was a complicated sexual predator, and his victims throughout southeast Minnesota include several people in Austin. His name was Father Jack Krough.
“He was a very smart perpetrator,” Attorney Patrick Wall said. “There was never any physical violence that he ever used. It was all coercion.”
Portrait of a wayward priest
The community at large didn’t know Krough was accused of sexual assault until the Diocese of Winona released his name last December as one of 14 priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse.
Krough’s name wasn’t a surprise to Wall and other attorneys at Anderson Advocates, a law firm specializing in church sexual abuse cases. Anderson Advocates knew about Krough back in 2003, a year after Krough was dismissed from his duties in the church.
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