MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates
Five St. John’s Abbey Priest Files to be Released Tuesday
Files include: Richard Eckroth, Thomas Gillespie, Francis Hoefgen, Finian McDonald and Bruce Wollmering
Bruce Wollmering Key Documents
Bruce Wollmering File, part 1
Bruce Wollmering File, part 2
Bruce Wollmering Timeline
Finian McDonald Key Documents
Finian McDonald File, part 1
Finian McDonald File, part 2
Finian McDonald Timeline
Francis Hoefgen Key Documents
Francis Hoefgen File
Francis Hoefgen Timeline
Richard Eckroth Key Documents
Richard Eckroth File, part 1
Richard Eckroth File, part 2
Richard Eckroth File, part 3
Richard Eckroth Timeline
Thomas Gillespie Key Documents
Thomas Gillespie File
Thomas Gillespie Timeline
What: At a news conference on Tuesday in St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson will:
• Release the files of five St. John’s monks accused of sexually abusing children. Files to be released include Richard Eckroth, Thomas Gillespie, Francis Hoefgen, Finian McDonald and Bruce Wollmering. The files were obtained as part of the Troy Bramlage (Doe 2) settlement earlier this year.
• Discuss the contents of the five priest files. Finian McDonald spent more than 20 years as a counselor at St. John’s where he used his position to prey on and sexually exploit vulnerable students. Bruce Wollmering was part of the counseling staff along with McDonald who also preyed on vulnerable students who sought help. Francis Hoefgen was arrested for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old vulnerable boy in Cold Spring, MN in 1984. In 1996 St. John’s learned of Thomas Gillespie’s sexual abuse of a boy at St. Mary’s in Stillwater, MN approximately 20 years earlier and Richard Eckroth, a serial sexual psychopath abused dozens of St. Johns students, if not more, over his 60+ year career.
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