By ROBERT W. BLACK Associated Press writer

WHEATLAND -- Parishioners at a small-town church who took part in a secret ritual where they were stripped, hung upside down and whipped were tricked into participating by a Catholic priest seeking sexual gratification, a prosecutor said Monday.

"There's not an issue that they were doing this stuff, and there's really not much of an issue about what they were doing," Platte County Attorney Eric Alden said. "So the question is, was this trickery or is this a legitimate ritual recognized by the church?

"And the other issue was, is this somehow for sexual gratification? And there was testimony to indicate that it might have been."

But a defense attorney said ................

those who took part in the practice more than 15 years ago may have faulty memories about intent behind the ritual, which he maintains was strictly religious.

Fraternity initiations, Marine Corps training, sports teams, certain African societies and many others employ similar rituals, "and nobody thinks it's anything sexual," attorney Dallas Laird said.

Anthony Jablonowski, 67, of Waterford, Ohio, pleaded no contest Thursday to a charge of molesting a 17-year-old boy in Guernsey in 1982 and was sentenced to between 15 months and seven years in prison.

The case against Jablonowski, who served St. Anthony Catholic Church in Guernsey from 1980-88, stemmed from reports the Diocese of Cheyenne received about his behavior.

The church notified Platte County Attorney Eric Alden about a year ago, and he asked the state Division of Criminal Investigation to look into the matter. Agents later would learn of allegations that Father Tony, as he was known to many, had molested a teenager in Guernsey.

Several men told agents about rituals in the basement of the church about that time. Three said the ceremonies were sexual, not religious.

"One of them would be the 'penitent' and sometimes it would be the priest and sometimes it would be one of the individuals," Alden said.

"The penitent would be gagged with a bandanna, and a piece of rope tied over their mouth, and they were blindfolded. Their hands and feet were tied, and then cords or ropes of some nature were tied around their genitals and were tied in a particular pattern, and there were prayers made with each wrap."

A type of winch would hoist the person, who was hanging upside down, and then the man would be whipped ...............

LINK to rest of Story Caspar Star Tribune

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STORY #2. Same subject.

ONLY 4,450 PREIST'S CHARGED WITH MOLESTATION: CHARGES WILL BE FILED BY NY ATTORNEY GENERAL

Monday February 16, 2026 9:01 PM

By RACHEL ZOLL

AP Religion Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - A draft of the upcoming national survey of sex abuse claims against Roman Catholic priests has been viewed by CNN, which reported Monday that 4,450 clergy have been accused of molesting minors since 1950.

The draft survey said 11,000 abuse claims have been filed against the U.S. churchmen during that period, CNN reported.

The survey is being overseen by the National Review Board, a lay watchdog panel that the American bishops formed, and conducted by researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

John Jay refused to comment on the CNN report, while board members contacted Monday by The Associated Press wouldn't say whether or not the latest statistics were accurate. They stressed the report is not finished, and that any numbers tallied so far could change before the study is released Feb. 27.

The figures are roughly in keeping with a trend the AP reported on last week.

Some individual dioceses have released the abuse statistics they compiled for the national survey, and the AP has been tracking those reports. Through Monday, 84 of 195 U.S. dioceses had reported claims - with 1,413 clergy accused of abuse since 1950.

That statistic is already much greater than the scope of abuse previously estimated by victims' groups and the media.

``I would hope that the public would kind of withhold any immediate judgment until they get the full story on Feb. 27th,'' said Leon Panetta, the former Clinton White House chief of staff and a National Review Board member.

Robert S. Bennett, a prominent Washington attorney and another review board member, said survey drafts are circulating only among board members and John Jay researchers.

No bishops have seen the draft, said Bennett, who also is overseeing the board's investigation into the causes of the clergy abuse crisis. The results of that inquiry will also be released Feb. 27.

``Both the National Review Board report and the John Jay study are still in the process of being written,'' Bennett said. ``People should wait until then to draw their conclusion.''

Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was traveling Monday and could not immediately be reached for comment, said his spokesman, David Spotanski.

The bishops commissioned the unprecedented study as part of a series of reforms meant to restore trust in their leadership. The 84 dioceses that released their statistics have reported 2,990 abuse claims so far.

CNN reported that the draft survey said 78 percent of those abused were between the ages of 11 and 17, and that more than half the accused priests had a single allegation filed against them.

It said the report blames the sex abuse crisis on the bishops' failure to grasp the gravity of the problem, their misguided willingness to forgive and their emphasis on avoiding scandal, among other things.

Victim advocates say the survey ultimately will underestimate the number of cases because it is based on self-reporting by bishops.

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