FORT MYERS (FL)
News-Press
August 15, 2018
By Melanie Payne and Ryan Mills
Four priests with ties to Fort Myers, Naples and Port Charlotte were named in a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing child sexual abuse by priests.
The four are among the more than 300 — including at least 16 with ties to Florida — who the report states were perpetrators, are being investigated for possible sexual misconduct or were involved in a cover-up of the scandal.
The report, released Tuesday, names the Rev. Robert J. Brague, who once served at St. Ann in Naples, the Rev. Timothy Sperber, who lives in Port Charlotte, and the Rev. Thomas M. O’Donnell, who lives in the Fort Myers area, as priests who engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with minors but were protected by the Catholic Church.
The grand jury report also names the Rev. Sean Kerins, of Naples, as one of three cases under investigation by law enforcement. He is presumed innocent unless proved otherwise, according to the report.
Kerins, 28, who has family members living in Lee and Collier counties, is listed in the report as living in Naples. According to news reports, Kerins was placed on permanent leave by the Diocese of Erie after officials said they learned he had sent a series of inappropriate text messages to a student at Kennedy Catholic High School.
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