Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Tuesday released a report detailing information on 451 Catholic priests and religious brothers who abused almost 2,000 children in the state over more than seven decades.
Of those cases, the report included 51 documented cases in the Diocese of Peoria, which includes La Salle, Bureau, Putnam and Marshall counties, among 21 other counties. Of those cases, 23 had served in parishes in La Salle, Bureau, Putnam and Marshall counties at some time. Seven of those abuse cases were reported in La Salle County, two in Bureau County and one in Marshall County.
The attorney general’s report detailed priests with substantiated cases, the parishes and the timeline of when they served. Some narratives were included in the report. One narrative focused on George Piland’s abuse of a boy in the mid-1960s at St. Stephen School in Streator.
Here are the clerics who were assigned to parishes in La Salle, Bureau, Putnam and Marshall counties that the report identified with substantiated cases against them:
Robert O. Barnett
1964-1966: Abuse reported in La Salle County
1966: St. Francis of Assisi, Ottawa
Walter Bruening
(Time range unavailable) St. Mary and St. Joseph, Henry
John Joseph Casey
1940s: Abuse location unknown
1940s: St. Patrick, La Salle
Louis Condon
1958-2000: Abuse location unknown
(Time range unavailable) St. Mary, DePue
1982: St. Margaret Hospital, Spring Valley
Robert Creager
1972-1982: Abuse reported in La Salle County
(Time range unavailable) St. Patrick, Ottawa
Francis Engels
1976-1984: Abuse reported in Bureau County
1970: St. Columba, Ottawa
John V. Farris
(Time range unavailable) St. Patrick, La Salle
William Harbert
1981: Immaculate Conception, Ohio
1977: St. John, Walnut
1992: St. Joseph Home, Lacon
George Hiland
1970: Abuse reported in La Salle County
(Time range unavailable) St. Stephen, Streator
(Time range unavailable) St. Patrick, Arlington
(Time range unavailable) Sacred Heart Mission, Dimmick
(Time range unavailable) St. Thomas, Dalzell
William Isermann
Abuse reported: 1950s-1970s in La Salle County
1958: St. Patrick, Ottawa
1958: St. Patrick, Ransom
(Time range unavailable) St. Mary, DePue
1963: Immaculate Conception, Streator
1964: St. Peter and Paul: Leonore
Robert Hughes
1950s-1970s: Allegations in La Salle County
M. Duane Leclercq
1989: St. Theresa, Earlville
1994: St. Patrick, La Salle
2003: Sacred Heart, Granville
2003: St. Patrick, Hennepin
John Onderko
1971: Abuse reported in La Salle County
1962: St. Hyacinth, La Salle
1980: Holy Cross, Mendota
1993: Resurrection, La Salle
Toussaint Perron
1992: Abuse reported at St. John, Walnut
Gordon Pillon
(Time range unavailable) St. Patrick, La Salle
(Time range unavailable) St. Hyacinth, La Salle
Gregory James Plunkett
1988: St. Columba, Ottawa
Samuel Pusateri
1989-1990: Abuse reported at St. Bede
1980-1991: St. Bede, Peru
Kenneth Roberts
1980s: Abuse reported in La Salle County
Ronald Roth
1966: Holy Family, Oglesby
1978: St. Patrick, Ransom
1983: St. John, Lostant
John J. Ryan
1951: St. Patrick, Ottawa
Laurence Schumacher
1966: Abuse reported in Marshall County
1930: Immaculate Conception, Streator
1947: St. Mary, Henry
1970: St. Theresa, Earlville
1971: Immaculate Conception, Streator
Bernard Tomaszewski
(Time range unavailable) St. Hyacinth, La Salle
(Time range unavailable) St. Valentine, Peru
William Virtue
(Time range unavailable) St. Theresa, Earlville
