ABC7 Year-in-Review: Sexual abuse allegations made against Charlotte County priest

Published: Dec. 30, 2024 at 9:02 PM EST

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - An arrest in April sent shockwaves throughout two communities that are separated by 1,400 miles.

An employee working at a Catholic district in Dubuque, Iowa, a town of about 60,000 people that borders both Wisconsin and Illinois, reported sexual abuse allegations from former altar boys to the Dubuque Police Department in May of 2023.

“They had somebody come and report to them what was going on and they brought it to our attention, which started the investigation,” says Luke Bock from the Dubuque Police Department.

That investigation led to 5 sexual abuse charges stemming from the 1980s being filed against Father Leo Riley, a priest who worked in Iowa until transferring to Florida in the early 2000s.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office made the arrest at the priest’s home in Port Charlotte 11 months after the investigation started.

“A lot of the interviews that he conducted gave information that really spelled out the same story. It all went in the same direction, leading credibility to all those stories,” Bock said.

Then 2 days later at a law firm in Sarasota another story became public.

“He said that if I told, he would do to my sister what he was doing to me,” an alleged victim going by John Doe said.

He was the first to come forward with allegations of being sexually abused by Father Riley during his time on the Suncoast.

He says he tried to suppress the trauma allegedly caused by the priest while at St. Charles Borromeo in Port Charlotte.

“When they started coming back in flashes and nightmares I knew I needed to do something so that Riley would not hurt anyone else.”

Two and a half weeks after his arrest Riley made his first appearance in front of a judge on May 13th.

This got the ball rolling toward a potential trial.

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