KNOXVILLE (TN)
Knoxville News Sentinel [Knoxville TN]
April 26, 2024
By Tyler Whetstone
A former priest who is a key witness in a sexual assault lawsuit against the Diocese of Knoxville has filed a complaint against one of the diocese’s attorneys, Knox News has learned.
The Rev. Brent Shelton, who suddenly left St. Mary’s Parish in Oak Ridge last year after he was told he was being transferred by former Bishop Richard Stika, filed a complaint April 3 with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility. The board oversees attorney conduct.
Shelton, 53, sees the reassignment as retaliation from Stika, who resigned in June 2023 under a cloud of mismanagement accusations and questions about his mentorship of a former seminarian who is accused of raping a former church employee. Shelton was a whistleblower in that case after serving in Oak Ridge since 2015.
Shelton says diocesan attorney Gino Marchetti erred in 2022 by not filing documents Shelton had provided in a timely manner. Marchetti missed a deadline and put Shelton at risk for contempt of court, he said. A judge later brought up the missed deadline in court.
Knox News reviewed court filings that show Shelton received a subpoena March 8, 2022, and was required to submit the documents within 21 days. That deadline was not met. On July 22, 2022, attorneys for the diocese filed a motion seeking to avoid the subpoena, saying the request “impermissibly call(s) for the discovery into protected internal church matters.”
After going back and forth for months, the judge ruled the diocese could not protect documents.
Shelton told Knox News he filed the complaint to clear his name. The missed filing combined with Stika’s assertion in 2023 that Shelton left the diocese without permission – a charge Shelton denies – feel like a one-two punch of retaliation, Shelton said.
“They try to dominate you and when they can’t dominate you, they try to humiliate you,” he told Knox News. “It just seems like my name keeps coming up in ways to humiliate me. It tells other would-be whistleblowers to keep quiet.”
Sandy Garrett, the chief disciplinary counsel of the Board of Professional Responsibility, told Knox News state law prohibits the office from confirming a complaint has been filed except when public discipline or formal disciplinary charges result from an investigation.
About the priest’s complaint
Shelton is one of two priests who had documents subpoenaed for the lawsuit brought by a former church employee who has accused a former seminarian of raping him. That lawsuit continues to make its way through the courts.
Marchetti is a Nashville-based attorney who has represented the Diocese of Nashville for decades in lawsuits, including several sexual abuse lawsuits. The complaint did not include the diocese’s other attorney in the matter, Matthew Pietsch.
Shelton asserts in his complaint the documents weren’t filed in a timely manner, and it occurred around the time diocesan leaders fought to keep records from the lawsuit a secret. A Knox County judge eventually ruled against the diocese, citing Knox News’ investigative reports in the case.
Marchetti, through a Knoxville diocesan spokesperson, declined any wrongdoing. “The documents were, in fact, turned over pursuant to all applicable ethics and legal requirements,” he said via email.
“There’s a public record out there that the judge asked where my answer was, and nobody explained what happened,” Shelton told Knox News. “Maybe that’s allowable … they can come back and say an attorney is allowed to do that. That’s fine. At least I’ll have a document showing that.”
Life is different now for Shelton
Shelton said the diocese agreed to provide him a 12-month stipend of $550 a month and he has 12 months of health insurance, but both will run out soon. In the meantime, he’s moved to Texas to live with family and is attending trade school to become an electrician. His predicament is why more priests don’t speak out, he said.
“You’ve become homeless within 24 hours and you have academic degrees that don’t mean anything in the real world,” he said. “So, that’s the issue for me. On one hand I’m trying to sort things out, but I’m also trying to be mindful of how my actions will inspire or deter other priests from around the country.”
Louisville Archbishop Shelton Fabre, who already oversees the diocese as the metropolitan see, is acting apostolic administrator in Knoxville, taking Stika’s place until a replacement is named. After Stika left, an official with Fabre’s office contacted Shelton inquiring whether he would come back to Knoxville. Shelton declined, at least for now.
“I have to take a stand,” he said. “I told them no, I won’t come back until they correct the record. … If I were to come back without that being corrected, I would be letting them get away with it.”
Knox News reported April 22 that priests, including Shelton, continue to receive threatening text messages from Stika. Know News is not naming the other recipients of Stika’s message because they are constrained by church authorities from talking to the media and were unwilling to discuss the message.
“Happy Spy Wednesday,” reads the opening of the text.
“And it all started with (name of priest Knox News is not identifying)! I will never understand how anyone could be so hateful to destroy the ministry of any cleric and in (name of priest Knox News is not identifying)’s case to bring a former seminarian to the point of suicide. It is all documented, my attorneys are ready and the information will be shared with my successor.”
Shelton said Stika’s messages are both threatening and intimidating.
“If bishops keep getting away with threatening and retaliating against whistleblowers, I’m afraid children and vulnerable adults will never be safe in the Church,” he told Knox News in an email. “The diocese needs to move forward, but we cannot do that if priests must live under the shadow of threats like these from the man we looked up to as our spiritual father for over a decade.”
Stika responded to questions from Knox News by text message and denied his messages to priests were threatening.
“Did not threaten at all. Just informed them about a possible lawsuit but I have decided not to include them in a lawsuit,” he said. “I have developed some additional heart issues over the last months and decided it is not worth it. I have moved on. I am retired. Plus, I have not found you to present anything that is balanced.”
Lawsuit details allegations of rape
John Doe was a placeholder name in the lawsuit to protect the identity of a former church employee who alleged a diocesan seminarian raped him. Doe has since been forced to refile his lawsuit under his legal name.
Knox News still refers to him as John Doe to protect his identity as an alleged victim of a sexual assault, and has not named the former seminarian because he has not been charged with a crime.
The lawsuit also details how the church, led by Stika, interfered with the investigation and worked to discredit him. Knox News independently verified the interference, which led to the firing of an independent investigator.
Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tyler_whetstone.