W.Va. suit accuses diocese of knowingly employing pedophiles

CHARLESTON, W.VA. >> A Catholic diocese and its former bishop in West Virginia knowingly employed pedophiles and failed to conduct adequate background checks on camp and school workers, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the state attorney general.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s suit against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and Bishop Michael Bransfield was brought under the state’s consumer credit and protection act, which several attorneys said is a first-of-its kind move.

The suit alleges the diocese and Bransfield chose to cover up arguably criminal behavior and claims the diocese employed admitted sexual abusers and priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse without adequate background checks. It comes about a week after church officials barred Bransfield from priestly duties following an investigation into claims that he sexually harassed adults and committed financial improprieties.

“The Catholic Church has been covering up, concealing and denying that it’s harbored child-molesting priests for a long time, including right here in West Virginia,” Morrisey said at a news conference.

A spokesman from the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston issued a statement saying some of the allegations are not accurately described and adding that they would address the litigation “in the appropriate forum.”

In one decades-old instance cited in the lawsuit, Rev. Victor Frobas, who was forced out of the Philadelphia seminary system because of a credible accusation of child sexual abuse, was made the director of a summer youth camp owned by the diocese. Frobas was then accused of sexually abusing children at that post and, following a leave of absence, was later assigned to work as a chaplain at Wheeling Central Catholic High School, the lawsuit said.