ALLOUEZ, WI (WTAQ) – As charges were filed against a retired Diocese of Green Bay priest, a volunteer with a support group for people abused by priests is raising new questions.
Charges were filed Thursday against Rev. Richard Thomas for allegedly exposing himself 4 times last month to a 16-year-old boy while the boy walked to school. Thomas was living in Grellinger Hall, which is a home for retired priests in Allouez.
According to the criminal complaint, Thomas told investigators that, “he is already seeking treatment.”
“Why was he already in it if this was his first experience with some kind of sexual impropriety?” asked Alice Hodek, who is the Green Bay coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
Hodek tells FOX 11 that she wants answers.
“I’d like to know if there have been allegations against him before,” said Hodek.
In a statement, the diocese says it is fully cooperating in the investigation.
“Father Thomas, a senior (retired) priest, has been restricted from performing any public ministry pending the outcome of the civil authorities’ investigation,” reads part of the statement.
Lt. Jim Valley of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office wants to raise awareness about the accusations.
“Do we only have one victim out there? We’re really concerned that there may be other victims out there,” Valley told FOX 11.
Valley says anyone with information on this case or other should call the sheriff’s office at (920) 448-4200 and request the investigative division.
“I think anytime you have someone that’s being victimized with someone else exposing themselves to them, especially randomly, we have to be concerned,” said Valley.
Hodek says Thomas is not a name she’s heard during more than a decade of work.
“I actually go over some of the victims I’ve spoken to in the past, and there’s names that they mention,” said Hodek. “Lots of them mention names. And some of them are names we’d all recognize of convicted priests. But some are people you only hear of once or twice. But Fr. Thomas was not a name I had heard of previously.”
Thomas was released after paying a $750 bond and is scheduled to be back in court for a preliminary hearing May 9.
