MN- Lutheran minister admits molesting girls in WI & MN

For immediate release: Thursday, March 20, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])

Lutheran minister arrested for child pornography

He admits molesting several young girls in WI & MN

A Lutheran minister has admitted – apparently for the first time, that he sexually abused children in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Yesterday, he was charged in Missouri with possession of child pornography.

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/crime/2014/03/19/st-charles-county-pastor-matthew-luetke-charged-in-child-porn-investigation/6619899/

Matthew Luetke, a pastor at the Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church in O'Fallon, MO, told police he had exposed himself and allowed his genitals to be touched by female relatives when they were pre-school age when the family was living in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Those incidents are said to have occurred between 2004 and 2008. 

Luetke is believed to have worked at Ascension Lutheran Church in Rochester , Minnesota and attended a Lutheran seminary just north of Milwaukee in Mequon, Wisconsin.

http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Matthew-Luetke/1188272202

The St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged Luetke after an investigation by the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff officials do not believe Luetke had any contact with children who attended daycare at the Missouri facility or the children of parishioners, but church officials are notifying parents as a precaution.

“We are very sad to learn that this minister admitted to child sex abuse and child porn,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis. He's the director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. 

“We hope that every single person who attends or works at any church where Luetke went or worked, will find the courage to call police right away if they know of or suspect clergy sex crimes or cover-ups there,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis. She's SNAP's outreach director.

According to court documents, the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force searched a home in the 5000 block of Danielle Drive for evidence of child pornography. Authorities found on a computer, images of young girls between the ages of 9 and 13 in various poses and exposing themselves.

Prosecutors said the homeowner, identified as Matthew Luetke, confessed to being the sole operator of said computer, adding he'd developed a habit of viewing child pornography. Luetke further admitted to touching himself while viewing said images.

Matthew Luetke was charged with one count of promoting child pornography and remains jailed on $100,000 bond.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have more than 15,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers and any others who survived being sexually assaulted/abused as children. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])