Priest Assignment Records and Case Details Released

The Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian has obtained settlements or arbitration awards for many victims and survivors who suffered sexual abuse by clergy or church personnel. The list can be found at at www.garabedianlaw.com/results-list. 

The firm added:

Detailed information on the assignment records and claim history of these abusers, together with sources, can be accessed by reading below as well as in the pdfs lnked above.

Please check back regularly as additional information is planned for release.

Father Toribio Villacastin – Archdiocese of Hartford

Assignment Record: No official assignment record.

Father Villacastin was ordained in the Diocese of Tagblaran, Philippines in 1981. He was a visiting priest in the Archdiocese of Hartford from approximately 1968 until approximately 1970. He assisted at St. Isaac Jogues Church in East Hartford, CT; and at St. Francis Church in Naugatuck, CT.

Father Villacastin left the priesthood in 1977. He died in 2008.

Source:
  • TThe Archdiocese of Hartford
Summary:
  • Father Toribio Villacastin was accused of sexually abusing a female minor child on at least twenty occasions from approximately 1969 when the female child was approximately eight years old until approximately 1970 when the female child was approximately nine years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Villacastin was assigned to St. Isaac Jogues Church in East Hartford, Connecticut, and the female child attended St. Isaac Jogues Church for religious services. The sexual abuse took place inside Wickham Park in East Hartford, CT; and inside the sacristy of St. Isaac Jogues Church.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Villacastin included the following: Father Villacastin kissed the girl on the mouth and put his tongue in her mouth; Father Villacastin fondling the girl’s genitals skin on skin; Father Villacastin removing his penis from his pants to expose himself to girl; Father Villacastin masturbating in front of the girl; and Father Villacastin making the girl perform oral sex on Father Villacastin.
  • The claim settled in December 2022 in the low-to-mid six figures.

Father Robert J. Vonnahmen – Diocese of Belleville

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1956 Ordained
1957—1962 Catholic Boy Scouts, Diocese of Belleville, IL
1957—1965 St. Phillips' Church in East St. Louis, IL
1963—1965 Boy Scouts, Diocese of Belleville, IL
1964—1965 Director of Camp Ondessonk in Ozark, Il
1966—1982 St. Joseph's Church in Elizabethtown, IL
1966—1982 Superintendent/Director of Camp Ondessonk in Ozark, IL
1983—1984 Director of Camp Ondessonk in Ozark, IL
1985—1993 St. Joseph's Church in Elizabethtown, IL
1985 Director of Camp Ondessonk in Ozark, IL
1993—1995 Contact for Catholic Shrine Pilgrimage, Inc. in Golden Frontier, IL
1994—2000 Leave of Absence – Diocese of Belleville
2001—2007 Retired, listed as residing in Belleville, IL – Diocese of Belleville
Source:
  • The Official Catholic Directory, Kenedy & Sons

(The years listed above are the publication years of the Official Catholic Directory. According to the Directory, the assignments provided for a given year are effective as of January 1 of that year. This means that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year at a parish or school was likely at the same assignment for at least part of the previous year as well.)

Father Vonnahmen is not indexed after the 2007 Official Catholic Directory.

Father Vonnahmen died in 2016.

Father Michael Wempe – Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
Approx. 1966 Ordained in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
1966 – 1969 St. John Chrysostom Church, Inglewood, CA
1969 St. Andrew’s Church, Pasadena, CA
1969 – 1973 St. Rose of Lima Church, Simi Valley, CA
1973 – 1977 St. Jude’s Church, Westlake Village, CA
1977 – 1978 Sacred Heart Church, Ventura, CA
1978 – 1984 Paraclete High School, Lancaster, CA
1978 – 1984 St. Mary’s Church (in residence), Palmdale, CA
1984 – 1986 St. Sebastian’s Church, Santa Paula, CA
1986 – 1987 “On Sabbatical” (attending Vatican II Institute)
1987 St. Sebastian’s Church, Santa Paula, CA
1987 Foundation House (in residence), Jemez Springs, NM
1988 – 2002 Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (chaplain), Los Angeles, CA
1998 – 2002 Immaculate Heart of Mary Church (in residence), Los Angeles, CA
2002 – 2006 “Retired”
Source:
  • “Addendum to Report to the People of God: Clergy Sexual Abuse Archdiocese of Los Angeles
    1930-2003,” released by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2004.

Father Wempe was dismissed from the clerical state in 2006.

Summary:
  • Father Michael Wempe was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least five occasions from approximately 1974 to 1975 when the boy was approximately 14 to 15 years old. The boy came to know Father Wempe when Father Wempe was serving at St. Rose of Lima Church in Simi Valley, California, though the sexual abuse took place while Father Wempe was assigned to St. Jude’s Church in Westlake Village, California.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Wempe took place in Father Wempe’s car and included the following: Father Wempe fondled the boy’s penis and masturbated the boy, and Father Wempe exposed his own penis to the boy and forced the boy to masturbate Father Wempe.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the low six figures.

Father Michael Weston – Archdiocese of Chicago

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1973 Ordained
1974 – 1975 St. Linus's Church in Oak Lawn, IL
1976 – 1977 St. Teresa's Church in Chicago, IL
1978-1981 Saint Julie Billiart's Church in Tinley Park, IL
1982-1986 Mater Christi Church in North Riverside, IL
1987 Not Indexed
1988 Sacred Heart Church in Winnetka, IL
1989 – 1991 On Duty Outside the Archdiocese
1992 St. Cecilia's Church in Mt. Prospect, IL
1993 In residence at St. Eulalia's Church in Maywood, IL;
Office of Religious Education
Source:
  • The Official Catholic Directory, Kenedy & Sons

(The years listed above are the publication years of the Official Catholic Directory. According to the Directory, the assignments provided for a given year are effective as of January 1 of that year. This means that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year at a parish or school was likely at the same assignment for at least part of the previous year as well.)

 

  1. Father Harold Robert White – Diocese of Denver
  2. Father Benjamin D. Wysolmerski – Diocese of Burlington
  3. Father Theodore Zabowski – Diocese of Pittsburgh