In this Intelligence Report: a child sex abuse case that authorities say began in Detroit, took place in Colorado and concluded in Chicago.
The priest accused of sexually assaulting a boy is Father Richard Kurtz. He was arrested by agents from the FBI violent crimes task force in a case from 10 years ago when Kurtz was a teacher at a Catholic high school in Michigan.
Kurtz was taken into custody without any trouble at the Jesuit's Society of Jesus headquarters on North Clark Street. He is being held on $100,000 bond and extradition proceedings have been started by authorities in Colorado.
The longtime priest is accused of sexually assaulting a child while on a trip to Douglas County, Colorado in 2001. At the time, Father Kurtz was a chemistry teacher at University of Detroit High School in southeastern Michigan. Authorities tell the I-Team that Kurtz and the boy knew each other.
Although the crime occurred 10 years ago, sheriff's investigators in Colorado said it was June of this year that they were notified by Jesuit officials in Detroit of the allegation.
Although there is a Jesuit retreat center in Douglas County, Colorado, law enforcement sources say the sex assault didn't take place at the center or at any other Catholic facility.
A sheriff's spokesman says the records in this case are sealed because a child was involved, and he couldn't say where the victim was from or what they were doing in Colorado.
Kurtz' Facebook page states he is from Mansfield, Ohio and attended both Loyola University and Notre Dame. According to his resume, Father Kurtz also worked for a retreat center near Detroit before moving to Chicago last month.
The Survivor's Network of Those Abused by Priests calls Father Kurtz a predator and is urging Cardinal George and church officials to "go to every school or parish where Kurtz worked and beg victims and witnesses to come forward."
