712 Digital Group - top

A second allegation of abuse made against former Iowa priest

News

June 13th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Another person has come forward with sex abuse allegations against a Catholic priest who served more than a dozen eastern Iowa parishes in the 1980s and ’90s. Father Leo Riley, in Florida since 2002, was placed on administrative leave last month, after a different adult accused Riley of abuse in the mid-1980s. Riley was assigned to a church in Dubuque at the time.

About a decade ago, Riley was accused of abusing a minor at the Church of the Resurrection in Dubuque in 1985. The Archbishop of Dubuque — back in 2015 — said that previous investigation was dropped because the information available didn’t support a reasonable belief that the allegation was true.

Bishop Richard Pates has sent a letter to all Iowa parishes where Riley served, asking people with any information about alleged abuse to contact the archdiocese in Dubuque. Bishop Pates has released a written statement, too, saying the church will do what it can to bring healing in the midst of outrage and hurt — and he said the archdiocese is committed to working diligent sly to ensure a safe environment for children and all vulnerable individuals in its churches and schools.