Feb 24, 2006 8:28 am US/Central
Retired Priest Convicted Of 1960s Sex Abuse
ELKHORN, Wis. (AP) ―
A jury found a retired Chicago-area Roman Catholic priest guilty late Thursday of molesting two high school students during retreats in Wisconsin in 1967 and 1968.
The Walworth County jury deliberated several hours before finding the Rev. Donald McGuire, 75, guilty of indecent behavior with a child.
McGuire, a member of the Society of Jesus, taught at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill., from 1966 to 1970. Both of his accusers were students at the Jesuit-run school during that period. The two, who now live outside Illinois, have said McGuire molested them on the Loyola campus, as well at a house in Fontana, Wis., during retreats to the Lake Geneva, Wis., resort area north of Chicago. Only the alleged Wisconsin molestation was considered in the trial before Walworth County Circuit Judge James Carlson.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the two chose to try the criminal case in Wisconsin because that state's statute of limitations would not protect McGuire.
McGuire, who now lives in a Jesuit retirement home in Chicago, did not take the stand during his weeklong trial.
His defense attorney, Gerald Boyle, tried to depict the accusers of opportunists who were trying to cash in on a civil lawsuit they have filed against the Society of Jesus in Illinois. McGuire was dropped as a defendant in the civil lawsuit after the criminal charges were filed in Wisconsin.
But in his rebuttal, Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss noted that one of the accusers had informed a parish priest of the alleged molestation as long ago as 1969 or 1970, making conspiracy highly unlikely.
After leaving Loyola Academy, McGuire became a spiritual director for Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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