Father Michael Edwin Wempe
Ordained: 1966
Removed: 2002
Laicized: 2006
Assigned as follows:
- 1967-1969 St. John Chrysostom (Inglewood, CA)
- 1969 St. Andrew (Pasadena, CA)
- 1970-1973 St. Rose of Lima (Simi Valley, CA)
- 1974-1977 St. Jude Westlake Village, CA)
- 1978 Sacred Heart (Ventura, CA)
- 1979-1984 Paraclete High School (Lancaster, CA)
- 1979-1984 St. Mary (Palmdale, CA)
- 1985-1987 St. Sebastian (Santa Paula, CA)
- 1987-1988 Servants of the Paraclete (Jemez Springs, NM)
- 1989 St. Ambrose (West Hollywood, CA)
- 1990-1992 Cedar Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA)
- 1993-1998 St. Ambrose (West Hollywood, CA)
- 1999 Unknown
- 2000-2002 Immaculate Heart of Mary (Los Angeles, CA)
- 2002 Retired
- 2003-2020 Unknown
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Father Michael Edwin Edwin Wempe:
According to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Father Michael Wempe admitted to the child sexual abuse of 13 boys, between approximately 1972 and 1995. He was sent for treatment to the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico, and in early 2002, he was removed from ministry. Wempe was first charged with molesting five boys throughout Southern California between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s. The charges were thrown out when the Supreme Court struck down a California law that erased the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases from 1988 and earlier.
According to media reports, in June 2003, he was arrested on child sexual abuse charges. They were later dropped because the statute of limitations had expired. A few months later in September 2003, he was was arrested again on new charges of child sexual abuse. He was sentenced to three years in prison, fined $600, and ordered to register as a sex offender. In 2006, the claim was included in a $60 million settlement. Father Wempe has been named in several more civil lawsuits and was included in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' list of priests accused of child sexual abuse. His current whereabouts are unknown.
Father Wempe was laicized in 2006.
According to a list maintained by Bishop Accountability.org, Father Wempe was accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy on at least five occasions from approximately 1974 to 1975. The boy came to know Father Wempe when the priest was serving at St. Rose of Lima Church in Simi Valley, California, though the sexual abuse occurred in his car while he was assigned to St. Jude's Church in Westlake Village, California. He reportedly fondled the boy's penis and masturbated the boy, and Father Wempe exposed his own penis to the boy and forced the boy to masturbate Father Wempe.
The claim settled in 2020.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest or other Catholic clergy in California State, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles now have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Los Angeles and nationwide. We can help.
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