UPDATE: Louisville Priest Denies Alleged Abuse at 1970s Camp

BRANDENBURG, Ky. (AP) – A Louisville priest accused of sexually abusing a man who attended a Catholic summer camp in the 1970s says he did not abuse the man, who was 10 at the time.

The Rev. Joseph Hemmerle is testifying Tuesday in Meade County, which was the site of a summer camp he ran for three decades beginning in the 1970s. Michael Norris, a camper at Camp Tall Trees in 1973, says Hemmerle stood him on a stool with no clothes and sexually abused him in Hemmerle’s room. Norris went to the room for poison ivy treatment.

The 74-year-old Hemmerle says he doesn’t remember Norris at the camp, but “there’s no doubt in my mind” that Norris was not abused.

Hemmerle is facing two counts of a sexual abuse-related charge. The church placed him on administrative leave in 2014.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.

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11/28/16 8:16 a.m.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A Louisville priest is going on trial on sexual abuse charges nearly 15 years after allegations surfaced from a man who said the priest molested him at a Catholic summer camp in the 1970s.

The Rev. R. Joseph Hemmerle will face sexual abuse and sodomy charges at the trial beginning Monday in Meade County. He ran the boys summer camp in that county for decades.

Michael Norris first brought the allegations that he was abused by the priest in 2001. Police did not charge Hemmerle that year, and the archdiocese allowed him to return to ministry.

The Associated Press does not ordinarily identify alleged sex abuse victims, but Norris has spoken publicly.

In 2014, a second alleged victim came forward and Hemmerle was indicted on sexual abuse and sodomy charges.

DYLAN LOVAN
Associated Press

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.