Bishop Skylstad says private probe clears him of abuse claim

Published: 2006-06-09

SPOKANE, Wash. (CNS) -- Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad has said that an investigation he ordered produced no evidence to support an unnamed woman's allegation that he sexually abused her 40 years ago when she was a minor. Bishop Skylstad communicated the probe's results June 8 at a news conference in answer to a reporter's question but he did not elaborate. "The bishop could not have been and was not involved with this girl," Thomas Frey, the bishop's personal lawyer, told Catholic News Service June 9. "The diocese will not pay any claim to her," said Frey, who hired the private investigator who looked into the woman's allegations. "To my knowledge there has been no investigation by public authorities," he said, noting that the statute of limitations has expired. Frey said that the woman's claim was filed at the end of 2005 and is among the numerous clergy child sex abuse claims made against the diocese after it filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2004. The June 8 news conference was called to announce a proposed settlement with one of the diocese's insurers, Oregon Auto Insurance Co. The insurer will pay the diocese $6 million to end litigation as to whether the insurer is liable for abuse claims against the diocese. The agreement needs to be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams and the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Washington,

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