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February 22, 2005
Prosecutors looking to beef up sex-abuse case against priest
Victims of alleged assaults asked to come forward
Prosecutors Monday filed a motion asking to use evidence of other molestations and crimes against a priest accused of fondling a 10-year-old boy in the 1980s.
And police want to hear from anyone who might have had an encounter with Donald Buzanowski
Buzanowski, 62, faces, faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child for allegedly fondling a 10-year-old boy while serving as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.
In Brown County Circuit Court documents, special prosecutor Vince Biskupic said he wants to use evidence from Buzanowski’s November 2000 conviction for possession of child pornography and an unprosecuted allegation made by a 39-year-old man who said Buzanowski molested him “20 times or more” during visits to a Door County cottage beginning in the summer of 1978.
Prosecutors also want jurors to hear that Buzanowski admitted in a letter to a friend that he molested 14 boys, ages 14 to 17, from 1969 to 1988.
Prosecutors would like to hear from these alleged victims, too.
“Any assistance that we can get in finding witnesses or other victims would be appreciated,” Biskupic said. Buzanowski’s “lawyer might contest that there are that many victims.”
Brown County officials asked Biskupic, a former Outagamie County prosecutor who is in private practice, to prosecute the case because Biskupic has experience with allegations against clergy. Assistant Brown County District Attorney Julie Dequaine is assisting him.
Biskupic said it is not uncommon for adult victims of abuse to remain quiet.
“In general, most adults who were victimized as children still suffer from embarrassment and pain and don’t necessarily want to come forward and disrupt their lives.”
Any one with information about inappropriate conduct by Buzanowski is asked to call Green Bay police at (920) 448-3200.
In the case pending against Buzanowski, David Schauer, at age 12, told his therapist about the incidents in 1990, and the therapists in turn notified the authorities. Prosecutors did not file charges in the case because they felt they did not have enough evidence. When Schauer was able to provide more details of the alleged assaults and Buzanowski was implicated by his own words, the face of the case changed, and charges were filed in October 2004.
Schauer, now 26, lives in Marshfield. The Green Bay Press-Gazette does not normally identify those who make sexual-assault allegations. However, Schauer has agreed to have his name used publicly.
Schauer also has filed a civil lawsuit against Buzanowski. That matter is still pending.
Buzanowski’s lawyer, Owen Monfils, said he first saw the prosecution’s motion Monday, but would be filing a reply brief in a few days. The motion is scheduled for a hearing March 18.
Biskupic’s motion includes a seven-page report Green Bay police detective Tina Cygan made after she interviewed the man who levied the allegations about abuse in Door County. The man, who was not identified in court records, told Cygan that Buzanowski molested him repeatedly during sleepover visits. The man said he visited the cottage many times with other friends, who also spent time alone with Buzanowski.
The man also said he was assaulted during a trip to Green Bay when Buzanowski took him to the rectory of St. Patrick’s Church. The man told Cygan that he slept in the same bed with Buzanowski during the visit.
The allegations in this case were not prosecuted because the statute of limitations has expired. Recent changes in the limitations for sexual assault cases allows prosecution to go forward in the Schauer case.
Biskupic also wants to introduce information about the child-pornography possession conviction for which Buzanowski spent 21 months in federal prison.
Buzanowski took a leave of absence from his priesthood in May 1989, according to Renae Bauer, spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. In 1990, that leave was extended, and in 1992 Buzanowski was suspended by Bishop Robert Banks.
Bauer said the diocese has filed paperwork with the Vatican to have Buzanowski laicized, but no action has not yet been taken in Rome.
Buzanowski remains in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Posted by Nealus at February 22, 2005 03:22 PM
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