By Sara Reed SaraReed@coloradoan.com
The Coloradoan
March 14, 2006
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060314/NEWS01/603140302/1002
Allegations of sexual assault on a child by a former Catholic priest first came to light in March 2004 after the Archdiocese of Denver contacted Fort Collins police, according to an arrest affidavit released Monday.
Monsignor Thomas Fryar of the Archdiocese of Denver called Fort Collins police on March 30, 2004, to report the allegations of abuse against Timothy Evans, a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, according to the affidavit.
Evans, 43, faces two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, one count of sexual assault on a child - pattern of abuse and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor stemming from incidents alleged to have occurred from Sept. 1, 1998, to May 18, 1999, while Evans was serving at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
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| Father Timothy Evans |
The alleged victim, who was 17 at the time, said Evans fondled him on two occasions at the Rectory where Evans lived.
The two would often wrestle, and Evans would end up straddling him and caressing his body, according to the affidavit.
The boy was working at the church at the time but quit after the alleged abuse, the affidavit states.
The alleged victim contacted the Archdiocese in March 2004. After talking with the alleged victim, police taped a phone call between the boy and Evans.
When the boy asked Evans about one of the alleged incidents, Evans said it shouldn't have happened but didn't have a satisfactory explanation, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit indicates there might have been two additional victims - one at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and one at Spirit of the Christ Church in Arvada.
Evans served at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 5450 S. Lemay Ave., from 1998 to 2002.
Both alleged victims - a 16-year-old boy in Arvada in 1996 and an adult man at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in 2002 - said Evans straddled them and caressed them before fondling them, the affidavit states. The boy told his parents about the alleged incident, but a report to the Archdiocese was not made until 2003.
The alleged adult victim told police the diocese moved Evans from Spirit of the Christ Church to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton "due to an incident where Father Timothy Evans inappropriately touched a juvenile male."
Jeanette DeMelo, director of communications for the Archdiocese, denied the allegation, saying the diocese will not move a priest facing "credible" allegations of sexual misconduct.
DeMelo confirmed Evans was removed from the ministry in 2002.
When asked about the similarity of these allegations, Evans' attorney, Erik Fischer, said Evans maintains his innocence and that none of the alleged victims felt Evans' conduct was inappropriate at the time.
"It's fashionable to accuse a priest of sexual assault," Fischer said.
Evans was a "vivacious" priest, Fischer said, who put his heart and soul into his work, and that was sometimes misinterpreted.
Evans also might have tried to bribe one of the alleged victims to not talk about the incidents, according to the affidavit.
During the 2002 investigation, Evans called the boy to say he was being investigated and the boy might receive a phone call from the Archdiocese, according to the affidavit. When the alleged victim told Evans he felt he'd been molested, Evans offered money or gifts to make the allegations go away, the document said.
Fischer said his client never offered the alleged victim money or gifts and the boy called Evans, not the other way around.
Evans, who remains free on $75,000 bond, is scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. April 7.
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