Tangled web they wove transferring pedophile priest to San Diego, Santa Barbara, L.A., Fox Point, Woodland, Milwaukee... Sept 2010 lawsuit

.
On her deathbed, his mother said that 20 years ago, when at age eight he told her Father Becker molested him, she went to Rembert Weakland, the Archbishop of Milwaukee, who told her to forgive the priest and leave the church, then cut off her financial aid. At the time the Catholic Church had been paying for the boy's childcare while his single mother tried to go to college.

After his mother’s death in 2009, the man contacted Jeff Anderson of Anderson Advocates in St. Paul, Minnesota, and another lawsuit concerning Father Franklyn Becker was filed September 16, 2010, this time in the Circuit Court Civil Division of the County of Milwaukee, concerning a priest who preyed upon children in California and Wisconsin.

And people ask why it often takes victims decades to come forward about pedophile priest crimes....

In this case, "John Doe 17 was age 7-8 when Becker performed oral sex on him and tried to get John Doe 17 to do the same" to the priest, reads the Complaint.

Like so many in the Catholic Church's MO for handling its criminal priests, Franklyn Becker got moved around a lot. For example, Becker reportedly is one of 41 clergy accused of molesting 51 children in Santa Barbara,. See Pages 1-2 of Sept. 16, 2010, Complaint from Wisconsin scanned here, page two lists 19 of his assignments:

SCANNED DOCS (Click to Enlarge):


Six Degrees of Separation Dance

As a predator who was transferred often by several bishops, Franklyn Becker ventured through at least 19 different assignments in his priestly career (UPDATE: See Post Note at bottom of this post). Becker is reportedly part of the paedophilia e predilecto flagrante that took place in Santa Barbara under G. Patrick Ziemann, who later as a bishop admitted to forcing a priest to have sex himself. A Franklyn Becker case was part of a Privacy Rights decision made by Judge Peter Lichtman of Los Angeles in 2007, a decision still muddling in the California state court of appeals process. Previous cases re Franklyn Becker influenced a Wisconsin State Supreme Court decision in 2007 to allow decades old lawsuits.

This case filed September 16, 2010, got little media attention, as it was filed within days of a federal judge serving papers on the Vatican Secretary of State in a Jeff Anderson case from Oregon while CNN was promoting its September 25-26 special “What the Pope Knew” based on several Anderson cases.

The Six Degrees of Separation Dance that is woven into the story of the epidemic of pedophile priests in the Catholic Church plays out clearly in Franklyn Becker’s career.

*******************

Why do these victims wait so long to come forward? is a comment you read often online, attached to news stories about pedophile priest claims by plaintiffs.

The new case against Franklyn Becker of Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and venues in Wisconsin such as Lyons, Fox Point, West Allis, Woodland, Cascade, and Milwaukee, tells part of the story of why it often takes plaintiffs decades to come forward about a pedophile priest:

The Complaint says that in 2009, “Just before his mother died, John Doe 17’s mother told him that after Plaintiff told her Becker was sexually abusing him, she then immediately met with Archbishop Weakland and reported that Becker had sexually abused her son. She told Plaintiff that Archbishop Weakland told her that she should forgive Fr. Becker and that she should leave the Catholic church.”

The Complaint continues: “At the time Plaintiff’s mother met with Weakland, she was a single mother, struggling financially, and receiving financial assistance from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for her son’s education and child care while she attended college. After she told Weakland that Becker had sexually abused her son, the financial assistance ended and she moved her family out of the state of Wisconsin.”

**********************

The Complaint asserts:

“26. Defendant Archdiocese affirmatively represented to Plaintiff John Doe 17 and his family that Franklyn Becker did not have a history of molesting children, that Defendant Archdiocese did not know or suspect that Becker had a history of molesting children, or that Becker was a danger to children.”

Franklyn Becker did have a history and “Defendant Archdiocese knew or suspected that Franklyn Becker had a history of sexually molesting children and that he was a danger to children.”

*************
Read the entire complaint here at Anderson Advocates website
**************************

I know it's redundant but

Franklyn Becker is also one of 41 clergy accused of molesting 51 children in Santa Barbara, as part of lawsuits that settled in that city in 2006.

I feel it's a point that needs to be driven home, because civilians still do not seem to see that there was a pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church; and considering the expanse of the crime spree, hardly anything has been done by law enforcement or the courts about it, other than sound bites and promises and apologies followed quickly by more awards and glory and catered events for the cardinals.

“In sworn testimony, Becker testified about his attraction to boys, his interest in the Man-Boy Love Association, his leanings toward being attracted to post-pubescent boys,” wrote John Manly in the L.A. Daily Journal in July 2007.

The Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles in charge of the Santa Barbara region when Franklyn Becker beach partied there was Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann, who later himself admitted to intimidating a priest into sex while a bishop.

The Becker case was part of a Privacy Rights decision that Judge Peter Lichtman made in 2007, says Manly's Daily Journal article.

Previous cases against Becker were part of the decision in 2007 by the State Supreme Court of Wisconsin to allow decades old lawsuits from Milwaukee, because the Becker and a second California offender, Siegfried Widera, had been cited as child sex predators in California before coming to Wisconsin to rape kids in that state.

“The victims claim that they did not fully realize the extent of the church's involvement in the coverup of abusive priests until 2004, when cases against the same priests in the Milwaukee lawsuit, Siegfried Widera and Franklyn Becker went to court in California.” reports the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in July 2007. “Both Widera and Becker had served in parishes in the Milwaukee Archdiocese after they had been accused of abusing children and before they were moved to California.” Continue Reading at bishop accountability or look him up in the database of accused priests under B.

***********

First transfer for Becker was from Wisconsin to the rural town of San Diego in the 1960s, after he perpetrated on several Midwestern boys, but Becker was back in Wisconsin by the 1980s.

He never stopped perpetrating.

More from the Complaint:

"14. Defendant Archdiocese was in a specialized position where it had knowledge that Plaintiff did not."

"11. On February 5, 1979, the Bishop of San Diego sent Archbishop Weakland a letter stating, 'No doubt there are psychological problems in Father Franklyn Becker’s life that he must solve.'”

In 1979, “Defendant Archdiocese represented that Franklyn Becker did not have a history of molesting children."

And finally:

“Had plaintiff’s family known" in 1979 what the Catholic Church chose to keep secret about the priest's predilections, “Plaintiff would not have been molested” by Father Franklyn Becker.

********

Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer, City of Angels Blog since January 2007. Click my PayPal with high fives please to help keep us afloat.

***********************

From 2007 in San Diego: "Franklyn Becker, who was defrocked by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee after 40 years as a priest, said he was upset to learn he was named by this diocese."I don't think I should be involved because it was a long, long time ago," said Becker, contacted at his home in Mayville, Wis. (Read the article at bishopaccountability from San Diego Union March 2007)

See more about Franklyn Becker on list of perps from San Diego Diocese.

The same week this case filed on Becker, this is what was in the news about Anderson Advocates in St. Paul, Minnesota:

Friday, October 01, 2010
US judge asks Vatican to serve court paper to pope...

Thursday, September 30, 2010
Court requests Vatican help to serve Cardinal Ratzinger...

Plus
Pedophile priest case vs. Pope takes big step forward...

Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Documents relating to the Des Moines Iowa filing... read more
Petition Filed Today Against ELCA, St. John's Lutheran Church and Martinson ... read more
AND CNN was in his office for Wednesday, September 29, 2010
"What The Pope Knew” Features Jeff Anderson and Many Courageous Clients
In the documentary, Jeff Anderson is interviewed and provides insightful commentary on the Catholic

*****************
So it's easy to understand how the news missed this story.

Well you read it here at city of angels blog, remember, not just L.A., the City of Angels is Everywhere.

INCLUDING

New Mexico in upcoming months. Please click my PayPal buttons on the left with high fives to help pay for investigative journalism underway, which includes moderate modest traveling, at City of Angels.

POST NOTE:

Tim Hale, plaintiff attorney in Santa Barbara, wrote this when he read this blog post:

"To my knowledge, Becker was never in Santa Barbara. Becker and his personnel file were sucked into the Franciscan proceeding before Judge Lichtman for reasons I can't recall. I think it was simply a case of the two matters going on at the same time in front of Judge Lichtman, and because they featured the same issues re privacy rights, Judge Lichtman held the hearings concurrently. Milwaukee, for whatever reason, rolled over and submitted to the publication of the documents after the Summer 2007 order. Conversely, as you know, the Franciscans kept on fighting, and fighting, and fighting."

Okay, readers, City of Angels lady is sucked again into the entrails of E! television shows in production this week, Tuesday something to do with "Celebrity Oops." Yes, that's what I do for a living, transcribe experts talking to E! about celebrities....

Somewhere in the collection of stories below from Bishop Accountability I found the information that Becker was a perpetrator in Santa Barbara at the same time Ziemann was auxiliary bishop of Santa Barbara, working out of Los Angeles, oh this web gets tangled.

Since E! Entertainment Network pays the bills, I have to put their priorities first.

So, Readers, did City of Angels blog just take the mitre of truth two steps forward and one step back?

Read the stories below about Franklyn Becker and see if you can find the article saying his career included Santa Barbara. Whoever finds it first gets a free pass including travel expenses to the premier of "The City of Angels is Everywhere" when it is made into a major motion picture.

You too can walk a red carpet someday.

This story is not over, just done for today...

Here is what Bishop Accountability has on Franklyn Becker in its Database of Accused Priests under B:

"Ministry restricted 7/02 for alleged abuse. Arrested 5/03 on charges he abused a teenage boy in San Diego CA in late 1970s; case ended 7/03 by Supreme Court's Stogner decision. Worked in Wheeling-Charleston WV and St. Louis MO in mid-1970s. Civil suit filed 12/03 re abuse in 1982; dismissed on SOL; upheld by appeals court 8/06. A claim included in $16.65M settlement 9/1/06. Laicized before 7/04 per archdiocese. First allegation reported 3/63 when Becker was seminarian. New suit filed 9/10."

WITH THESE LINKS: Source:

Grand Forks Herald (AP) 8.29.06; St. Paul Pioneer Press 8.30.06; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 9.1.06; Chicago Tribune 9.2.06; TheMilwaukeeChannel.com 9.7.06; Catholic Online 9.7.06; Chippewa Herald 3.30.07; Lompoc Record 3.30.07; San Diego Union Tribune 3.31.07; Capital Times 4.25.07; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 5.24.07; Pioneer Press 7.11.07; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 7.11.07; Journal Times 7.13.07; Diocese of San Diego List 3.30.07

Assignments:

LA Daily Journal 7.6.07 (add'l article); Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1.31.08 (add'l article); Archdiocese of Milwaukee Records Regarding Father; Statement by Archdiocese of Milwaukee 2.1.08; Statement by Archbishop of Milwaukee 2.1.08 (add'l article); WISN 2.21.08 (add'l article)

Hmm, Becker was in St. Louis, Missouri, and Wheeling, West Virginia, in the mid seventies as well.

Hmm.
.
-ke