| Rev. Richard Presenti, s.d.b. Summary of Case: Presenti was accused of sexually abusing boys at Camp Salesian in Middletown, CA. Presenti was a Salesian brother for years until his ordination as a priest in 1968. In 1972 or 1973 a boy told a Salesian brother at the camp that Presenti sexually abused him and another boy in the camp infirmary the night before. The Brother told the San Francisco Provincial House Superior, who convinced the boy's parents not to go to the police. He reassured them that Presenti would be kept from children. The boy discovered that Presenti was working at his high school when he started as a ninth grader there the next year. Presenti was next sent to a Salesian high school in Los Angeles, where he was made Principal. In 1992 a man reported to the Salesians that Presenti had sexually abused him as a child at Camp Salesian in 1962. Presenti admitted to having sexually abused boys between 1970-1973. He was allowed until he stepped down in 2005 to work as Provincial Treasurer. He is last known to have been living at the Salesian Provincial Residence in San Francisco. Ordained: 1968 |
| Start | Stop | Parish/Assignment | Town/Accusations | State | Position | Notes |
1960s Santa Rosa bishop was Leo Thomas Maher (1962-1969) |
Camp Salesian | Middletown • A man reported to the Salesians in 1992 that Presenti had sexually abused him at this camp in 1962, when the man was 12 or 13 years old. |
CA | Presenti was a Salesian brother until he was ordained a priest in 1968. | ||
1968 Oakland bishop was Floyd Lawrence Begin (1962-1977) |
1974 | Salesian High School | Richmond | CA | Assistant Principal 1971-1974 Finance Director (per news reports) |
Salesian High had 350-425 students, all male. |
1970s Mark Joseph Hurley replaced Maher as Santa Rosa bishop (1969-1986) |
Camp Salesian | Middletown • Presenti was accused of sexually abusing boys at this camp in the summer of 1972 or 1973. (The former camper who reported the abuse remembers it as in 1972. The Provincial Superior at the time believes it was in 1973). Two boys were sleeping in the infirmary. Presenti is said to have gone into the darkened room with a flashlight and molesting the boys, one after the other. He admitted in 2003 that he had abused one of the boys. |
CA | This assignment is per news reports. One of the boys told a Salesian brother the next day what had happened. The brother reported the incident to the order. The San Francisco Provincial House Superior, Rev. Walter Rasmussen, met with the boy's family and convinced them not to go to the police. He told them the order would handle the matter and Presenti would receive treatment, and be kept away from children. The boy who had come forward discovered the following school year at Salesian High, where he was a freshman, that Presenti was working there. |
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1974 Los Angeles archbishop was Timothy Manning (1970-1985) |
1980 | St. John Bosco High School | Bellflower | CA | Principal | John Bosco High had 750-855 students, all male. Rasmussen admitted under oath decades later that he did not tell anyone in Bellflower that their new principal was accused of child sexual abuse. In fact, Rasmussen had recommended Presenti for the job. Rasmussen did not document the reports of abuse by Presenti. |
1980 San Francisco archbishop was John Raphael Quinn (1977-1995) |
1989 | Salesian Provincial Residence | San Francisco | CA | Provincial Treasurer 1980-1988 Director of Development 1986-1989 |
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1989 Los Angeles archbishop was Roger Michael Mahony (1985-2011) |
2000 | St. John Bosco High School | Bellflower | CA | Director 1989-1990 President 1990-1998 |
John Bosco High had 870-1,110 students, all male. |
2004 Monterey bishop was Sylvester Donovan Ryan (1992-2006) |
2006 | St. Francis Central Coast Catholic High School | Watsonville | CA | Councilors | |
2000 Quinn was succeeded by William Joseph Levada (1995-2005), followed by George Hugh Niederauer (2005-) |
2010? | Salesian Provincial Residence | San Francisco | CA | Provincial Treasurer 2000-2005 | Presenti admitted in 2005 to having molested three boys sometime between 1970 and 1973. Men who had claimed to have been sexually abused by Presenti as children at Camp Salesian sued the Salesians. The lawsuits were barred in 2008 because of the statute of limitations. News reports state Presenti stepped down as Provincial Treasure in 2005 "for health reasons". Presenti is indexed but not listed in the San Francisco archdiocesan pages as at Salesian Provincial Residence in the 2008-2010 Directories. |
Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1969-2010) • House of the Accused, By Ron Russell, San Francisco Weekly, January 5, 2006 Priests
in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's
place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest
listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor)
and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4
means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample
page from the Directory. |