And more victims are calling police ‘daily’
In what prosecutors are calling “just the tip of the iceberg,” the pastor of a Catholic church in Waterford Township has been taken into custody and charged with criminal sexual conduct involving a minor.
According to the Oakland Press, Father Joseph Baker, a pastor at St. Perpetua Parish since 2008, was arrested Monday morning by investigators from the attorney general’s office — making him the sixth priest apprehended in a far-reaching investigation.
In a statement, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel stated, “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
“Our clergy abuse investigative team is working day and night to review the hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and files seized from all seven of Michigan’s dioceses last fall,” she explained “At the same time, we continue to receive calls daily from victims who know we will listen to them, believe in them, and investigate their allegations. They deserve nothing less than our very best.”
According to the Post, “Baker’s arrest follows Nessel’s May 24 announcement that five former priests had been charged with 21 counts of criminal sexual conduct. The men … were all priests when the reported crimes were committed.”
In a statement on Baker, the archdiocese said that he “is prohibited from representing himself as a priest, wearing clerical attire or exercising any form of church ministry.”
