Despite no charges, accusers in ex-KC priest sex case still credible: Wyoming bishop
A Wyoming prosecutor’s decision not to file child sexual abuse charges against a former Kansas City priest who later became Bishop of Cheyenne doesn’t mean the alleged victims were not credible, the leader of that state’s Catholics said Thursday.
“I commend the victims who have spoken courageously about their abuse,” said Bishop Steven Biegler, head of the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne, in a strongly worded statement. “I also stand behind the determination made by the Diocese of Cheyenne that allegations of sexual abuse against former Bishop Hart are credible.”
Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen in Casper, Wyoming, could not immediately be reached for comment. Cheyenne is in Laramie County, but Itzen was appointed as special prosecutor in the case because of a conflict of interest within the Laramie County District Attorney’s office.
Biegler said the Cheyenne diocese recently was told that Itzen had decided not to prosecute former Bishop Joseph Hart. He said the Diocese of Cheyenne had fully cooperated with law enforcement during the past two years and that the diocese “understands and appreciates” that the decision on whether to pursue a criminal case was up to the district attorney.
Biegler also acknowledged that proving the charges beyond a reasonable doubt was a high standard of proof and that a criminal case required a unanimous jury verdict in order to convict.
He added, however, that “the Diocese of Cheyenne is adamant in a sincere quest for justice for everyone.”
“A just resolution is essential for the victims and their family members, but also for the clergy and laity in the Diocese of Cheyenne and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The Diocese of Cheyenne hopes that the D.A.’s Office will offer an adequate account of the reasons for its decision not to pursue criminal charges. This would assist the public in understanding why such a decision was reached.”
Biegler said that Hart, 88, remains under investigation by the Vatican for allegations that he sexually abused minors.
“It is important to differentiate between criminal charges and the canonical crimes being investigated by Church authorities,” Biegler said. “That process continues under the oversight of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith at the Vatican, and the Diocese of Cheyenne has not received new information on the status of the case.”
If found guilty in a Vatican trial, Hart could be laicized, or removed from the priesthood.
Biegler’s statement came two days after one of the alleged victims said he was contacted by the Natrona County District Attorney’s office to let him know it would not be prosecuting Hart because of insufficient evidence.
The investigation spanned more than two years and was spurred by the Cheyenne diocese, which in 2018 and 2019 deemed the allegations of six accusers who said Hart sexually abused them in the 1970s and 1980s to be substantiated. It was the second investigation into allegations against Hart in Wyoming. The previous one, in 2002, involved the man who was a focus of the current case. That man grew up in Cheyenne and now lives on the East Coast.
If charged, Hart, who served as Bishop of Cheyenne for 23 years, would have become the highest-ranking Roman Catholic cleric in the country to face criminal prosecution for sexual abuse of a minor.
Hart has for years categorically denied all allegations against him. When reached by phone on Wednesday, the retired bishop declined to comment and told The Star to talk to his attorney.
Hart’s attorney, Thomas Jubin, did not respond to a request for comment. In 2018, Jubin issued a statement saying the Cheyenne diocese was “engaging in a smear campaign.”
Officer David Inman, a spokesman for the Cheyenne Police Department — which conducted the investigation and last year recommended that charges be filed — told The Star on Thursday that the department was waiting for official notification from the Natrona County District Attorney’s office before it would comment on the case.
The alleged abuse occurred decades ago, but Wyoming — unlike most states — has no statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions. That means charges can be filed even years later.
Hart’s alleged victims and their families were still stinging Thursday from news about the lack of prosecution.
“There’s a lot of angry people,” said Darrel Hunter, whose brother was among those Hart allegedly abused in Kansas City. “We have two families living hundreds of miles apart between Missouri and Wyoming, and the same thing happened. That’s corroborating information.”
Hunter, whose family was close to Hart, said it’s been nearly 30 years since they first went to the diocese to report the alleged abuse. He said, however, that “I don’t even know that we’re interested in him going to prison now.”
“In today’s world, there’s a prevalence of distrust for institutions,” he said. “People don’t trust that big institutions are going to do the right thing. And when major institutions like the Roman Catholic Church have the opportunity to do the right thing and show where their heart is, they need to take it.
“This is an opportunity for them to show where their heart is. Defrocking him would be the reasonable thing to do.”
Hart was a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph from 1956 to 1976, then served as auxiliary bishop of Cheyenne from 1976 to 1978 and bishop from 1978 until retiring in 2001.
Allegations against Hart first surfaced in 1989 and 1992 in Kansas City. Church officials originally deemed those allegations not credible, but in 2018, Bishop James V. Johnston of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese found them to be substantiated.
In 2002, the former Wyoming man accused Hart of sexually abusing him as a boy. Wyoming authorities concluded there was no evidence to support the allegations. But in July 2018, Biegler — the new Bishop of Cheyenne — announced that the diocese had reopened its investigation into Hart.
The previous investigation was flawed, Biegler said, adding that a second man had come forward alleging sexual abuse by Hart and that both men’s allegations had now been deemed “credible and substantiated.”
By September 2019, the Diocese of Cheyenne said it had received a total of six credible allegations against Hart.
The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese has said Hart was named by 10 individuals in lawsuits regarding child sexual abuse claims dating from the 1970s. Those claims were part of two $10 million settlements the diocese entered into in 2008 and 2014 in cases involving dozens of victims and numerous priests.
Last September, the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese said it had received four additional allegations against Hart in the past year. Two of those involved Missouri men who said the alleged abuse occurred on trips with Hart to Wyoming. Those were two of the new cases substantiated by the Cheyenne diocese.
That brought to at least 18 the number of sexual abuse allegations against Hart that were reported to the two dioceses.
The former Wyoming man told The Star on Thursday that no one from the district attorney’s office ever called him to discuss his allegations despite his repeated requests to talk to someone there.
He became so frustrated at the lack of action that in February, he sent an email to the lead detective on the case at the Cheyenne Police Department.
“I can’t imagine you are looking forward to the arrest, prosecution and trial of an old, sick man and the media blitz that will accompany all of it,” he wrote. “However, this man is a pedophile who has ruined the lives of dozens of people and their families.
“I’m not sure there is any justice possible for his crimes. All we have is the law. And right now, it looks like the law is failing me and all of the other victims, many of whom are never going to come forward.”
Elsewhere, he said, the statute of limitations has allowed Hart to avoid prosecution.
“It’s a shame that the one state where he might be held accountable is failing to charge him.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 2:19 PM.
