WISCONSIN
National Catholic Reporter
Marie Rohde | Sep. 4, 2015
The Milwaukee archdiocese has placed on leave a priest previously accused of sexual abuse as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. Fr. Tom Eichenberger denies the 38-year-old allegations and it is the only allegation made against him, according to the archdiocese.
Eichenberger has been a longtime member of the priests’ council, a group representing districts of the archdiocese and advises the archbishop on matters.
In a letter to parishioners of St. Francis Borgia in suburban Milwaukee, Archbishop Jerome Listecki said the matter was sent to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office for review and that the office declined to prosecute. The archdiocese did not respond to requests for a comment.
Kent Lovern, the chief deputy district attorney, said his office received notification from the archdiocese as part of “a long standing protocol we have with the archdiocese.” He said that after lawyers in his office determined that the age of the allegation exceeded the statute of limitations “we determined we had no basis to move forward” and that no additional investigation of the allegations was made. He said that even if the case had been brought to his office as soon as the allegation was made in the bankruptcy, it still would have been outside the statute of limitations.
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