Ex-Priest Abused Boy In Evanston Hotel 17 Years Ago: Prosecutors

EVANSTON, IL — An ex-priest has been accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in a Sherman Avenue hotel room in 2001. The defrocked Catholic priest was arrested by federal agents on May 9 in Atlanta after arriving on a flight from Ecuador, before he was taken to Illinois by the Cook County sheriff's office and turned over to Evanston police.

Kenneth Lewis, 56, was arrested on Friday and charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. Police said the abuse took place while he was on a trip to the Chicago area with the family of the victim. Both were residents of Oklahoma at the time. Since last summer, Lewis had been living mostly in Ecuador, although he maintains a permanent address in Arvada, Colorado, prosecutors said.

The allegation that the then-pastor abused the boy at what is today the Holiday Inn Chicago North were first reported to Tulsa police in 2004. The incident was reported to Evanston police, but Lewis "could not be charged as part of the initial investigation."

The investigation was re-opened last year by a detective in the juvenile bureau of the Evanston Police Department and the office of the Cook County state's attorney. Investigators developed enough evidence to get a warrant for Lewis' arrest on Dec. 27.

Friday marked the first time Lewis has been charged with a crime related to sexually abusing children, although he had been the subject of allegations of molestation beginning shortly after he was ordained in 1991 following his graduation from St. Mary of the Lake Mundelein Seminary. His attorney told the Sun-Times Lewis denies the allegations and has the full support of his family.

A decade ago, after Lewis became the first Tulsa priest to ever be stripped of his collar, the lawyer representing an accuser told the Tulsa World it was "inexplicable" that Lewis had not been criminally charged.

"I'm gratified to hear he no longer enjoys the status of priest, and can no longer use his collar to hurt others," said Jeff Anderson, a Minneapolis attorney. "But I'm saddened that he is not behind bars where he belongs. Until he is, there are other children at risk. He would be behind bars if the diocese had acted with the diligence that they should have, and had reported him to police," he said.

Lewis, Bishop Edward Slattery and the Diocese of Tulsa were named as defendants in the 2007 lawsuit. It alleged that for years for years church officials neglected to protect children by failing to warn parents or prevent the priest from having access to kids, even after they were made aware of the abuse. According to the civil suit, when a diocese employee reported witnessing him in bed with a young boy and with a young boy on his lap, the witness was intimidated and the pastor wound up getting promoted.

Court records indicate the suit was withdrawn in July 2009, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, although it could not be confirmed whether it had ended with a settlement. It was not clear if the victim described in the suit, referred to as "John Doe," was the same child as Lewis is accused of abusing. Both incidents allegedly took place in an Evanston hotel.

A spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office told the Sun-Times new charges are likely to be filed this week. Lewis is due back in court in Chicago Tuesday and in Skokie on Wednesday.

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