LAKE CHARLES (LA)
KPLC [Lake Charles, LA]
October 8, 2024
By Omar Martinez
A group representing survivors of clergy sex abuse is pushing for the Diocese of Lake Charles to add additional names to its list of credibly accused clergy members.
Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, commonly known as SNAP, are visiting cities in Louisiana to call for transparency in the Catholic Church.
The push comes after the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld a law giving sex abuse victims more time to file lawsuits against their perpetrators.
SNAP wants Louisiana dioceses to add certain priests to their lists of credibly accused clergy. These priests’ names appear on lists of abusers elsewhere.
SNAP wants four names added to the Diocese of Lake Charles’ list:
- Alfred Dean, who worked at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Welsh in 1989 and 1997, was included on the Baltimore Archdiocese’s credibly accused list in 2003 and the Maryland attorney general’s 2023 report on sexual abuse.
- L. Michael Herpin, who worked at St. Paul and St. Joseph in Elton and the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, reportedly admitted to sexual misconduct in 2002. He was included on the Diocese of Lafayette’s credibly accused clergy list in 2019.
- Peter Covas, who worked at Scared Heart of Jesus in Lake Charles, is on the Diocese of San Diego’s credibly abused clergy list.
- Keith Anthony “Kappy” Potier, who worked for Our Lady Queen of Heaven, is on the Diocese of Lafayette’s credibly accused clergy list.
The four priests are believed to be deceased.
“If the Lake Charles bishop is hiding these four, who knows how many other proven, admitted and ‘credibly accused’ molesters are or were in his diocese who are still under the radar?” SNAP representatives wrote in a news release.
The diocese provided the following statement to KPLC in response:
“The Diocese of Lake Charles has been informed just today that SNAP is raising a question as to why four priests were not included on our list of those “credibly accused” that was previously released in April of 2019.
“To begin, the list was compiled by an independent and neutral committee of legal and law enforcement professionals who reviewed all allegations raised against a priest from within the Diocese of Lake Charles. The Diocese has no evidence of allegations raised against these priests from their time inside the Diocese of Lake Charles. As such, they were not included on our list.
“SNAP never contacted the Diocese of Lake Charles to simply inquire about these names prior to their announcement. The Diocese is, and always has been, fully committed to the highest levels of transparency and full cooperation with all civil authorities in all matters.”
SNAP is also criticizing the dioceses of Lafayette, Alexandria and Baton Rouge for their exclusion of certain names from their lists of credibly accused clergy.