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 Michael Pecharich – Diocese of Orange

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1973 Ordained in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
1974 – 1976 St. Bridget of Sweden Church, Van Nuys, CA
1976 Begins serving in the Diocese of Orange
1977 – 1979 St. Edward the Confessor Church, Dana Point, CA
1980 – 1983 San Antonio del Canon Church, Anaheim, CA
1984 – 1989 St. Juliana Falconieri Church, Fullerton, CA
1990 – 2002 San Francisco Solano Church, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
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 Pecharich’s faculties were removed in 2002.

Summary:
  • Father Michael Pecharich was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least five occasions from approximately 1977 to 1978 when the boy was approximately 9 to 10 years old. The sexual abuse took place while Father Pecharich was assigned to St. Edward the Confessor Church in Dana Point, California, and the boy was an altar boy at the church.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Pecharich occurred in the sacristy of the church and included the following: Father Pecharich gave the boy long, tight hugs, during which Father Pecharich rubbed his crotch against the boy’s stomach or the boy’s buttocks.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the low five figures.

Father John Piatkowski – Diocese of Erie

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1934 Ordained in the Diocese of Erie
1935 – 1948 St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Erie, PA / Tyler, PA
1948 – 1970 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Sykesville, PA
Sources:
  • Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, released by the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, dated July 27, 2018
  • 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.)

Summary:
  • Father John Piatkowski was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least fifty occasions from approximately 1949 to 1953 when the boy was approximately 8 to 12 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Piatkowski was assigned to Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church (“Assumption Church”) in Sykesville, Pennsylvania, and the boy attended catechism classes taught by Father Piatkowski.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Piatkowski occurred after catechism classes, which were held in the basement of Assumption Church or in a house across the street from the church. The sexual abuse included the following: Father Piatkowski repeatedly gave the boy long, tight hugs. On some occasions Father Piatkowski kissed the boy on the lips and inserted his tongue into the boy’s mouth. On at least one occasion, Father Piatkowski fondled the boy’s genitals over the boy’s clothing.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the mid-five figures.

Father William Presley – Diocese of Erie

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1956 Ordained
1956 – 1965 St. Cosmas and Damian Church, Punxsutawney, PA
1965 – 1970 Elk County Christian High School, St. Mary’s, PA
1971 Immaculate Conception Church, Brookville, PA
1972 Our Lady Queen of the Americas Church, Conneaut Lake, PA
1970 – 1976 Leave of Absence (Graduate and Student Counselor, Notre Dame, IN)
1976 – 1977 Leave of Absence (St. Joseph University, Philadelphia, PA)
1977 – 1978 Leave of Absence (University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD)
1978 – 1981 St. Therese Church, Shinglehouse, PA
1971 – 1981 Sacred Heart Mission, Genesee, PA
1981 – 1983 Leave of Absence (residing in Raleigh, NC)
1983 – 1988 St. Agnes Church, Morrisdale, PA
1988 – 1990 Leave of Absence (“Outside the Diocese”)
1990 – 2000 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Sykesville, PA
2000 Retired
Sources:
  • Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, released by the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, dated July 27, 2018
  • Official Catholic Directory
Summary:
  • Father Presley is not indexed after the 2000 Official Catholic Directory.
  • Father Presley died in 2012.
  • Father William Presley was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least ten occasions from approximately 1965 to 1966 when the boy was approximately 17 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Presley worked as a teacher at Elk County Christian High School in St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania, and the boy was a student at the school. The sexual abuse by Father Presley occurred in Father Presley’s car and at a residence on the campus of the school.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Presley included the following: Father Presley performed oral sex on the boy until the boy ejaculated; and Father Presley forced the boy to perform oral sex on Father Presley until Father Presley ejaculated.
  • The claim, made against Father Presley and other abusers within the Diocese of Erie, settled in 2021 in the low six figures.

Father Joseph J. Pucci, O.M.I.

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1941 Ordained
1942 Not indexed
1943-1948 Holy Rosary Church in Moxee City, WA, Diocese of Seattle
1949-1951 St. Benedict’s Mission in Trenton, NJ, Diocese of Trenton
1952-1956 St. Jude’s Church in Spencer, IN, Archdiocese of Indianapolis
1957-1962 St. Nicholas’ Church in Palisades Park, NJ, Archdiocese of Newark
1963-1968 St. Ann’s Church in Ashland, VA
Director and Pastor of Oblate Mission House in Ashland, VA, Diocese of Richmond
1969-1971 Our Lady of Victory Church in Andover, OH, Diocese of Youngstown
1972 – 1974 Mission House of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Toledo, OH, Diocese of Toledo
1975 – 1977 Chaplain at Toledo Mental Health Center in Toledo, OH
Mission House of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Toledo, OH, Diocese of Toledo
1978 Not indexed
1979 – 1984 Mary Immaculate Church in West Palm Beach, FL, Diocese of Palm Beach
1988 – 1991 Not indexed
1992 – 1994 In residence, Mary Immaculate Church in West Palm Beach, FL, Diocese of Palm Beach
1995 Not indexed
1996 – 2000 In residence, St. John Fisher Church in West Palm Beach, FL, Diocese of Palm Beach,
Diocese of Palm Beach
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 Pucci died in October, 2000.

  1. Father Paul V. Rattigan – Archdiocese of Boston
  2. Father Michael J. Regan
  3. Brother Remigius, C.F.X., a/k/a Francis O’Lone – Xaverian Brothers
  4. Father Joseph P. Rice – Archdiocese of Newark
  5. Brother Donald Richard, F.M.S. - Archdiocese of Newark - Marist Brothers of the Schools
  6. Father Edward Richard – Diocese of Manchester
  7. Father Thomas A. Riley – Archdiocese of Boston
  8. Father Eugene Riordan, S.M.A. – Society of African Missions
  9. Father James J. Rosch – Diocese of Albany
  10. Father Sylvio Ruest – Archdiocese of Boston
  11. Father Robert F. Ryan – Archdiocese of Philadelphia
  12. Father John Salvucci – Archdiocese of Boston
  13. Father William I. Shinnick - Archdiocese of Boston
  14. Father Edward Shoback – Diocese of Scranton
  15. Father David Soderlund – Diocese of Allentown
  16. Father Leonard P. Spanburgh – Archdiocese of Newark
  17. Father Francis Stinner – Archdiocese of New York
  18. Father John Stonebridge – Diocese of Brooklyn
  19. Father Gerard Sudol – Archdiocese of Newark
  20. Father Bernard L. Sullivan – Archdiocese of Boston
  21. Father John T. Sullivan – Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of Grand Rapids, Diocese of Gallup, Diocese of Phoenix
  22. Father T. Raymond Sullivan – Archdiocese of Boston
  23. Father Patrick J. Tague – Archdiocese of Boston
  24. Father Arthur Taraborelli – Archdiocese of Philadelphia
  25. Father Toribio Villacastin – Archdiocese of Hartford
  26. Father Robert J. Vonnahmen – Diocese of Belleville
  27. Father Michael Wempe – Archdiocese of Los Angeles
  28. Father Michael Weston – Archdiocese of Chicago
  29. Father Harold Robert White – Diocese of Denver
  30. Father Benjamin D. Wysolmerski – Diocese of Burlington
  31. Father Theodore Zabowski – Diocese of Pittsburgh