Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick charged with sexual assault in Wisconsin

Boston, Mass., Apr 17, 2023 / 10:01 am

Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been criminally charged with fourth-degree sexual assault in Wisconsin for an incident that allegedly occurred in April 1977.

McCarrick, 92, was laicized by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adults. He is currently being criminally charged in Massachusetts for sexually abusing a minor, an accusation he denies. 

The Wisconsin Department of Justice in an April 16 press release said that the complaint alleges that McCarrick serially sexually abused the victim over an unspecified period of time. 

The incident that McCarrick is criminally charged with allegedly occurred “at a Geneva Lake residence” in which McCarrick is accused of “fondling of the victim’s genitals,” the press release said. Geneva Lake, which is located in Walworth County, is in southern Wisconsin, about an hour and 20-minute drive south from the city of Madison.

The press release said that the alleged incident was reported to the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Clergy and Faith Leader Abuse initiative, which aims to “provide victims and survivors with an independent and thorough review of the sexual abuse committed by clergy and faith leaders in Wisconsin, no matter when that abuse occurred.”

The criminal complaint was not immediately available at the time of the Department of Justice’s announcement. 

The case is being prosecuted by Walworth County District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld.

This is a developing story.