FORT WAYNE (IN)
Fort Wayne's NBC-TV [Fort Wayne IN]
October 8, 2021
UPDATE: Records show David Huneck was booked Friday into the Whitley County Jail and that a court appearance is set for Tuesday afternoon.
WHITLEY COUNTY, Ind. — The probable cause document filed against local Catholic Priest David Huneck show invited the two victims to his home and gave them alcohol before assaulting them.
David Huneck had served as pastor of St. Paul of the Cross church in Columbia City and as a chaplain at Bishop Dwenger High School in Fort Wayne before stepping down following the accusations of assault.
Probable cause documents say the victims were 17 and 19 years old at the time of the abuse.
One victim told police she knew Huneck from his time as a Chaplain at Bishop Dwenger High School and looked up to him as a role model.
She said on June 30, the two girls were invited to Huneck’s house to celebrate his birthday and eat cake. The two were the only ones at his home that evening, they said.
They said Huneck offered them some of his alcohol and they accepted, but neither became intoxicated.
However, the girls said Huneck became “seriously intoxicated” and had slurred speech, was stumbling, and was pale, sweaty, and vomiting.
After that, one of the victims said he touched her inappropriately repeatedly, despite her efforts to slap his hands away. He also asked her to perform sexual acts on him.
The girls said he then passed out and they put him to bed when he pulled one of them into the bed with him and groped her, court documents say. She said she told him to stop and he did.
After that, the girls said they had several “normal” interactions with Huneck and said he apologized.
“Both indicated that while they were very concerned the night of the incident, both considered Fr. Huneck a friend and spiritual advisor. They wanted to believe his conduct would not happen again and [Victim 2] indicated that she was capable of forgiving but “would not forget,'” the court document reads.
Then on Sept. 17, court documents say Huneck invited the two girls back over to his home. The girls said given his apologies and the fact that they consider him a central figure in their faith, they returned to his home.
But when they arrived, Huneck again offered them some of his alcohol.
He again became intoxicated and assaulted the girls.
Police searched one of the victim’s phones and found messages from “Fr. David” where he apologized and said he may be relegated to the “bad priest list.”
At this time, David Huneck is charged with child seduction, sexual battery, contributing to the deliquency of a minor, furnishing alcohol to a minor, and two counts of battery.
When contacted by Fort Wayne’s NBC News, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend said it “extends its thanks to the Columbia City Police Department and the Whitley County Prosecutor’s Office for the work they have done in the case of Father David Huneck following our report that he engaged in sexual and other misconduct, including that with a minor.”