Abusive priest to be housed at
Missouri facility
Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. - A former Roman
Catholic priest who served five years in prison for molesting
three altar boys and a fourth young man will spend the rest of
his life at a facility for abusive priests.
Robert Larson was released from Lansing
Correctional Facility last week. His attorney reached an agreement
Monday with Attorney General Phill Kline to permanently house him at
the St. John Vianney Renewal Center near Dittmer, Mo.
Kline had sought to have 76-year-old
Larson designated a sexual predator and confined indefinitely for
treatment, but that would have violated the terms of a 2001 plea
agreement, prompting the attorney general to compromise.
"This agreement does much to prevent
his re-offending," Kline said.
Kline spokesman Whitney Watson said the
former priest will receive treatment similar to that provided to
sexual predators at the prison outside of Larned. He will report to
parole officers in Missouri.
Larson's attorney,
Dan Monnat, said his client will
not be able to leave the St. John Vianney facility without strict
supervision to ensure he has no contact with minors.
"This settlement appropriately
addresses public safety concerns while also being considerate of the
needs of a 76-year-old man who has served his time,"
Monnat said.
Larson pleaded guilty in 2001 in Harvey
County District Court to abusing three altar boys and a 19-year-old
man while he was pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Newton in the
mid-1980s.
Larson was a priest in the Wichita
diocese for 30 years before being removed from the pulpit in 1988 and
sent out of state for treatment. He was eventually stripped of the
title and duties of a priest and ordered not to dress or represent
himself as one.
The charges to which Larson pleaded
guilty grew out of a criminal investigation begun after The Wichita
Eagle published a story in which several former altar boys from
various parishes claimed that Larson had molested them.
Larson was retired and living in
Willoughby, Ohio, when the charges were brought against him. He
pleaded guilty to one felony count of indecent liberties with a child
and three misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.
Information from: The Wichita Eagle,
http://www.kansas.com
