Priest gave teen a Bible and wished him luck after sex abuse, Missouri officials say

A longtime Catholic priest in Missouri was accused Wednesday of sexually abusing teenage boys decades ago, officials say.

Frederick Lutz, 76, who is retired, was arrested after investigations into sex crimes while he served at churches in southeastern Missouri, prosecutors say. Lutz is accused of sexually abusing two 17-year-old boys, prosecutors say.

The Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office took the case after learning about the allegations against Lutz from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

The attorney general’s office conducted an extensive investigation of the Catholic Church in Missouri last year, releasing a 329-page report on the issue, The Kansas City Star reported.

Sexual abuse reported in the rectory

In early 2000, Lutz was a serving at the St. Joseph Parish in Advance when he asked a teenage boy to visit him in the rectory, the house where clergy live, according to court documents. The boy was attending religion classes and landscaping around the rectory at the time.

When he went inside, Lutz was drinking alcohol and watching gay pornography on TV, according to court documents. The boy refused a drink and tried to leave, but Lutz blocked him from exiting, prosecutors say. He then forced the boy to have oral sex with him, prosecutors say.

Lutz let the boy leave after he agreed to bring him marijuana the next day, prosecutors say.

The teen told his father, who notified a religious education teacher. Later, Lutz called the father to his office and apologized, telling him that he was drinking and just broke up with a boyfriend who lived with him at the rectory, according to court documents.

A Bible and ‘good luck’

While investigating the 2000 case, Stoddard County investigators learned of more allegations from decades earlier.

In 1972, a 17-year-old boy was working a summer job at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Cape Girardeau when he went with Lutz and a man known only as “Tex” to a weekend event, according to court documents. After the event, all three went to Tex’s apartment and began drinking alcohol, prosecutors say.

Then the boy passed out. He woke up to Lutz masturbating him while in a bed in the church, according to court documents. The boy drove home, though he admitted he was in no condition to be driving, prosecutors say.

When the boy went to Mass on Sunday morning, Lutz handed him a Bible and told him “what happened never should have happened,” according to court documents. Then he wished the boy “good luck” in college.

The victim filed a formal complaint with the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese in 2006, according to court documents.

More priest abuse victims?

Lutz is charged with forcible sodomy, two counts of statutory sodomy and sexual abuse, which are all felonies. He was jailed on $125,00 bond.

Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Russ Oliver says there could more victims.

“Should any additional victims of the defendant exist, we want those victims to know that although decades may have passed, we will pursue justice for all victims of the defendant,” Oliver told McClatchy News in an email.

Anyone with information about possible additional victims of Lutz can call the Stoddard County Prosecutor’s Office at 573-568-4640.

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Priest gave teen a Bible and wished him luck after sex abuse, Missouri officials say."