Group opposes new plan to weakening state offender registry

• Group opposes new plan to weakening state offender registry 
• “At workplaces, pedophiles can find new victims,” SNAP argues
• "This is why predators’ job addresses should be public," self help group says
• SNAP to bishops: "Work with us to avoid weakening crucial child safety law" 
• And victims praise Minnesota prelate for outreach; want to see more of it here

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

--disclose that a convicted, defrocked predator priest now works at a Starbucks in Chesterfield, and

--urge Missouri lawmakers to insist that sex offenders' workplaces stay on the state registry.

The will also praise a Minnesota bishop who recently warned his flock about a serial predator and prod St. Louis’ archbishop to

--join with SNAP in fighting this new, pending effort to weaken Missouri’s child safety law, and,

--warn parents and the public about child molesting clerics & their whereabouts.

WHEN
Wednesday, April 11, 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
Outside Rosati-Kain High School, 4389 Lindell (corner of Newstead) in the Central West End

WHO
Three-four child sex abuse victims who belong to a self help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
SNAP has recently learned that a convicted and now-defrocked St. Louis predator priest, Bryan Michael Kuchar, now works at Starbucks at 17293 Chesterfield Airport Rd. in Chesterfield (636 536 6885). He’s a registered sex offender: http://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/CJ38/OffenderDetails?page=0&column=name&id=1211113&lastName=Kuchar&suffix=&firstName=Bryan&middleName=Michael

The group is opposing part of a proposed law (HB 1700) that would let some proven sex offenders be listed on the state registry without disclosing their workplaces. It’s sponsored by Rodney Schad, R-Versailles.

Since many child molesters meet and become close to children and their parents through their jobs, SNAP wants to maintain the status quo and make sure the public can learn where convicted child molesters live AND work.

SNAP urges Archbishop Carlson and the other Missouri prelates to join in resisting the proposed changes to the law.

SNAP also feels the registry should provide a more detailed and nuanced description of the crimes, so that the public has more information about the exact crimes that were committed. The group takes no position on the proposal’s provision to let more offenders petition to be removed from the registry.

In 2003, Kuchar was found guilty of molesting a 14-year-old boy eight years earlier at Assumption Catholic Church in south St. Louis County. Kuchar also worked at St. Timothy Church in Affton, St. John the Baptist Church in south St. Louis, the Cathedral on Lindell and Rosati-Kain High School. He also helped direct the archdiocesan vocations office, recruiting teenagers and men to the priesthood.

According to the Post-Dispatch, “Kuchar was suspended by the archdiocese in 2002. He was later sentenced to three consecutive one-year terms in the St. Louis County Jail. When he was released in August, the archdiocese sent Kuchar, 41, to a (church run) retreat center outside St. Louis.” He now lives in St. Charles.

SNAP wants parents, parishioners and the public to be warned about him and encourages him to get a job with little or no contact with the public. He’s believed to be 46 years old, and SNAP calls him a “well-educated, articulate and cunning predator.”  The nearest Starbucks Regional Office is in Chicago at 312 463 0331.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/proposed-law-may-help-some-sex-offenders-get-off-registry/article_da054c88-defc-5c00-abda-2533c350ba69.html

CONTACT

David Clohessy 566 9790, [email protected], Barbara Dorris 503 0003, [email protected]