Media Advisory: McDonald, Wollmering, Eckroth, Gillespie, Hoefgen Files

Posted on November 23, 2015
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Release the files of five St. John’s monks accused of sexually abusing children.

Media Advisory
November 23, 2015

St. Paul News Conference Tuesday

Five St. John’s Abbey Priest Files to be Released Tuesday

Files include: Richard Eckroth, Thomas Gillespie,
Francis Hoefgen, Finian McDonald and Bruce Wollmering

What:

At a news conference on Tuesday in St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson will:

  • Release the files of five St. John’s monks accused of sexually abusing children. Files to be released include Richard Eckroth, Thomas Gillespie, Francis Hoefgen, Finian McDonald and Bruce Wollmering. The files were obtained as part of the Troy Bramlage (Doe 2) settlement earlier this year.
  • Discuss the contents of the five priest files. Finian McDonald spent more than 20 years as a counselor at St. John’s where he used his position to prey on and sexually exploit vulnerable students. Bruce Wollmering was part of the counseling staff along with McDonald who also preyed on vulnerable students who sought help. Francis Hoefgen was arrested for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old vulnerable boy in Cold Spring, MN in 1984. In 1996 St. John’s learned of Thomas Gillespie’s sexual abuse of a boy at St. Mary’s in Stillwater, MN approximately 20 years earlier and Richard Eckroth, a serial sexual psychopath abused dozens of St. Johns students, if not more, over his 60+ year career.
  • Encourage survivors of these five perpetrators, and others, to come forward before the May 25, 2015 deadline under the Minnesota Child Victims Act.
  • Survivor Troy Bramlage will be at the press conference to discuss the file release.

WHEN:

Tuesday November 24, 2015 at 1:00 PM CT

WHERE:

Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

NOTES: Copies of the priest files and timelines will be available at the press conference and on our website tomorrow and the event will be live-streamed online with links available at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.227.9990 Cell: 612.817.8665
Contact Mike Bryant: Office: 320.259.5414 Cell: 800.359.0061

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Topics: 2015 File Release, Bruce Wollmering, Finian McDonald, Fran Hoefgen, Jeff Anderson, Michael Bryant, Richard Eckroth, Thomas Gillespie

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