KANSAS CITY (KS)
Associated Press [New York NY]
March 23, 2022
The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dodge City will resume his duties after church and civil investigations into a sexual abuse allegation did not support charges against him, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann announced Wednesday.
Bishop John Brungardt, 63, voluntarily stepped away when an allegation of sexual abuse of a child was lodged against him in February 2021, The Kansas City Star reported.
Naumann, who leads the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, said in a statement that the KBI investigated the allegations and prosecutors declined to file charges.
Naumann said church authorities also dismissed the case against Brungardt after their investigation concluded the evidence did not support the allegation.
Naumann said Brungardt “vigorously” denied the allegation and cooperated with both investigations.
The KBI is in its fourth year of investigating reports of sexual abuse in the four Catholic dioceses in Kansas and the Society of St. Pius X, a breakaway Catholic group with a large branch in St. Marys in northeast Kansas.
A KBI official told a legislative committee in October that since the investigation began in November 2018, the agency had received 215 tips and opened 122 cases.
Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/kansas/article259690765.html#storylink=cpy