Brown Co. DA investigating 2 'potentially prosecutable allegations' involving clergy abuse

GREEN BAY (WLUK) -- Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul made a stop in Green Bay on Wednesday to discuss where the state is at in its clergy abuse inquiry -- and the update included some local cases.

Kaul says an investigation like this one is a first of its kind.

"There has never been a statewide independent investigation of the issue of clergy and faith leader abuse in Wisconsin," Kaul said.

More than 100 reports of abuse have been filed since Kaul announced the statewide clergy review initiative in April. Kaul says these reports have related to clergy leaders of different faiths, and in some cases, they do not relate to any institution.

Brown County District Attorney David Lasee is investigating two potentially prosecutable allegations.

"They are some older allegations, from the 1980s, but again potentially prosecutable based on the extension of the statute of limitations that exists," Lasee said.

Kaul says cooperation from dioceses across the state has been uneven. 

"Different religious orders and diocese have taken different approaches, though I will say that generally speaking, people should not assume that if they've reported before that that information is going to be coming to us," Kaul said.

Kaul encourages people to continue to report. 

"We are still receiving reports and we are providing a safe and trusted place to report. People can provide as much information or as little information as they would like," Kaul said.

FOX 11 asked Kaul, "what are the next steps in this review?"

"We're going to follow the facts where they lead, and right now we're in the information gathering phase. That's going to continue for a period of time. As I mentioned before, we have multi-disciplinary teams that are reviewing each report that comes in," Kaul said.

Abuse can be reported by calling 1-877-222-2620.

You can also report abuse using this website.