KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Attorney General Dana Nessel has released a report by her office into the allegations of sexual abuse that took place in the Diocese of Kalamazoo.
Her report has a list of priests that were accused of sexual misconduct against children or adults since January 1, 1950. Of the 19 priests on the list, 12 of them were ordained or incardinated by the Diocese of Kalamazoo, which was established in 1971.
Nessel says the Diocese of Kalamazoo provided reports of abuse to their office and the report contains detailed descriptions of sexual abuse and other sexual misconduct, including grooming and misuse of authority, against both minors and adults.
Her office issued criminal charges against 11 priests statewide starting in 2018, and two of them were from the Diocese of Kalamazoo.
They are Brian Stanley, a priest at St. Margaret’s Catholic Church in Otsego who was sentenced to 60 days in jail and five years of probation in January 2020 and Jacob Velliam, a priest at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Benton Harbor.
He was charged with two counts of rape in May 2019 and is believed to have died in November 2023 while waiting to be extradited from India. Nessel’s office notes they have not been formally told about his death by the U.S. State Department.
Comments