WISCONSIN
WKOW
By Tony Galli
May 22, 2018
Police report gives new details on interaction between priest and alleged victim
MADISON (WKOW) – Critics of the catholic Diocese of Madison’s release of information on the past of a priest accused of child sex crimes say the diocese was secretive about what they knew.
After 64-year old William Nolan was arrested, criminally charged and released on bond in Jefferson County last week for allegedly sexually assaulting a Fort Atkinson altar boy in 2006, a statement from Bishop Robert Morlino on Nolan’s past noted “…the Diocese had received no allegations of misconduct connected to any of his assignments.”
But after 27 News reported Monday Janesville Police officials contacted the diocese about Nolan in 2015, a new statement from the diocese said the diocese was aware of the man who sparked Janesville’s investigation into Nolan, because they had contact with the man twice in the past, but with no representation the priest had harmed the man. Diocese officials said the man had again contacted them Monday, this time with an accusation of sexual misconduct against Nolan.
“Their first statement about him – and it appears he has prior history – and they knew about this, and they didn’t say it,” says Peter Isely of the Wisconsin chapter of the Survivors Network Of Those Abused By Priests (SNAP). “They should have immediately been transparent,” Isely says.
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