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When Tony Cutcher learned that I was investigating why he resigned from active ministry following a scandal in 2021, he did what few priests accused of improper behavior have ever done: He sat down for an interview.
My reputation is gone. The best Im going to be able to do for the rest of my life is going to be some sort of low-level menial job which I find frustrating, and I also think is sad, Cutcher said during a June 7 interview. Someone with my background, training and talents not being able to use them for the greater good because of these allegations.
Cutcher asked the Archdiocese of Cincinnati if he could return to active ministry in late February, after a nearly three-year absence. He described his life now as solitary confinement, a small apartment in Piqua, jobs in retail and as a bookkeeper, and few friends.
But the archdiocese did not want him back. He said he received their decision by letter in late May, days after I asked the archdiocese about Cutchers status.
Basically, to save the diocese and myself any further embarrassment they declined to allow me to return to ministry, Cutcher said, noting that the archdiocese mentioned a recent media inquiry, That would have been yours.
Archdiocese spokesperson Jennifer Schack said Cutcher, “does not have an assignment and will not be returning to priestly ministry.”
But this story is not just about Cutcher’s quest to return to the ministry.
There are the hundreds of text messages he exchanged with a 14-year-old boy. A Catholic school principal who committed suicide. Destruction of evidence with a blow torch. Police investigation of suspected child pornography. And a 12-year-old allegation that prosecutors and police say they never remember receiving from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Part 1: The Texts
Cutchers 22-year career in active ministry began to unravel in early January 2021 north of Dayton, where he oversaw four churches and two schools, including St. Peter in Huber Heights and Our Lady of the Rosary in north Dayton.
It was on a Monday morning. I received a phone call from Father Steve Angi, the chancellor, informing me that an allegation had been made and that I was to leave the property immediately and have no contact with any parishioners. I had until the end of the business day to pack the things I needed and leave, Cutcher said.
St. Peters business manager and music director had reported him to the archdiocese for texting an eighth-grade male student for more than a year, leading into his freshman year of high school.
My music minister had come to me on Friday, the preceding Friday, and said, Im not comfortable with you texting a student. Im going to go to the archdiocese. And I said, Then Ill stop texting him. Well, he called the archdiocese, Cutcher said.
I asked for records from the Montgomery County prosecutors office, which investigated and did not charge Cutcher with any crime.
I also obtained documents from Huber Heights and St. Marys police departments, the Miami County Sheriff, the Ohio Attorney General and the Auglaize County prosecutor.
First of all, just the sheer volume of the texts is frightening to me. Who texts this often, asked Teresa Dinwiddie-Herrmann, who co-founded Ohioans for Child Protection in the aftermath of former priest Geoff Drews arrest for raping an altar boy in 2019.
She printed out the text messages and collated them into three large binders, which she and her colleague, Rebecca Surendorff, have both read through. They noticed that Cutcher surprised the child with special gifts, paid him to do yard work at the rectory, and asked about other boys who had cell phones.
So maybe its not criminal, but as a parent, that communication between that person with a position of supervision and authority with a child is extremely alarming, Dinwiddie-Herrmann said.
Some of the text messages include:
Just looking for an excuse to see you, to which the child responds, But you saw me yesterday. And Cutcher says, I know. Its been over 24 hours! Wow. You are incredibly handsome. Are you all brown and tanned? I will miss you. Hows your love life? I really miss your office visits. I sure do miss talking to you. You were in my dream last night It was one of those fun dreams Im a lot younger in my dreams. You have become quite important to me lately. Youre gonna need to send some selfies with your new clothes. I swear as soon as the weather breaks again Im gonna bike ride over to your neighborhood. You need to come back now. I miss you already. The child describes how his family is having takeout dinner from BJs to which Cutcher responds, Oh the restaurant, I always think of something else when someone says BJs I wont tell you the thing but the second word is job. (Think below the belt).
When I asked Cutcher if these texts were okay to send to a 14-year-old boy, he responded, No.
We read texts Cutcher sent to a minorPaula: So then why did you send them?Cutcher: I couldnt tell you at this point its been years.
While no texts were sexual in nature, and no sexual pictures were shared, Kerry Smoot, an investigator for the Montgomery County prosecutors office, wrote in his report that some appeared to be, inappropriate given their student/teacher relationship.
I reviewed the texts and noted several texts that were odd and out of the norm for an adult to send to a minor, let alone a priest sending them to a student/parishioner. I had (the boys) parents review the texts and they had the same conclusion as I did, Smoot wrote about the texts.
Then-Chancellor Steve Angi also reported that Cutcher had asked the boys teacher to send him each day to Cutchers office for 10 minutes, according to emails obtained from the Montgomery County prosecutors office.
Very disturbing on several levels, to say the least, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias Heck wrote in a Jan. 22, 2021, email to Angi about the office visits.
Emails Between Prosecutors and Archdiocese by webeditors on Scribd
Konrad Kircher, an attorney who has represented hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse including many cases against the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, said these office visits with Cutcher were a huge red flag.
I dont know how this priest could have gotten away with that for so long, Kircher said. Its obvious grooming. We know where this is leading.
But Cutcher said it was the 14-year-old boy who initiated the office visits, often stopping by for a piece of candy while waiting for his bus home at the end of the day.
I was sitting in my office one day and all the sudden he comes walking in and plops down in the chair in front of my desk, said Cutcher, who noted that his office had a glass window, was near a receptionist and within earshot of two other employees, and he always kept his door open.
I went to the homeroom teacher, and I said Look, hes coming here every day. I like it, I enjoy talking to the kid. Is that alright? And shes like, No. Im not comfortable with this, Cutcher said. I said OK then we wont do it.
When Smoot questioned two St. Peter teachers, It was advised that Fr. Cutcher was extremely fond of the boys in eighth grade. It was explained that he seemed to wait to have an interest in the boys at the school until they were in eighth grade, according to the prosecutors report.
One of the boys teachers told investigators that after she complained about the boy missing class time to see Cutcher in December 2019, the office visits stopped, according to the prosecutors report.
The business manager also wrote in his statement to authorities, I will attest that father does have an abnormal fascination for teenage boys and young adult men. This has come to my attention from getting to know father through conversations and observations.
I asked Cutcher if that statement was true, and he responded, I dont know.
When two Montgomery County investigators met with Cutcher, they had a casual conversation about the priesthood. Cutcher told them a story about when he volunteered at a domestic violence shelter and took an 11-year-old boy on an outing, according to their report.
While playing pool, the 11-year-old boy started to hit on him. Fr. Cutcher advised that he had to stop this advancement and took the boy back to the home. He further advised that young boys hitting on priests in the church is a real problem that happens often, Smoot wrote in the report.
When I questioned Cutcher about this, he said that investigators were incorrect in their memory of the conversation. It happened when he was a seminarian, he said, and he immediately returned the child to the domestic violence shelter and wrote up a written account of the incident so it could be documented.
This for me was an isolated incident, but I was trying to prove to them that no, I didnt encourage this in any way shape or form, and when it did manifest itself, I immediately did the right thing, Cutcher said. Then they asked the question, Does this happen very often, and I said, No but its not a zero.
We ask Fr. Cutcher if his alleged ‘abnormal’ fascination with boys is true
Part 2: The Suicide
One day after Cutcher left St. Peter on a leave of absence, the principal of the school, Ron Albino, shot himself in the head.
I get a call on my cell phone from the archbishop himself telling me, and I still remember this, you probably already heard but Ron Albino was found in his car having committed suicide. It was like somebody punched me in the gut, Cutcher said.
A park employee found Albino dead in his car at the Charleston Falls Preserve entrance in the early morning of January 13, 2021. The Miami County Sheriffs Department ruled his death a suicide.
On that phone call, Cutcher said the archbishop gave him an order, He said, I need to tell you that you are not to have any contact with any of those people. With the family, anybody. And I said, OK.
Prosecutors records show that Albino may have told Cutcher about the impending complaint.
The music director had set up a meeting with the archdiocese on Jan. 12 to complain about Cutcher. But then he got a call on Jan. 8 from the business manager, he informed me that Ron made a unilateral decision to divulge the contents of our previous discussions to Fr. Tony that morning, which accelerated their complaint to the archdiocese, according to the music directors statement and the prosecutors report.
Also of note is that the school principal is also somehow in the loop Fr. Angi said it was a violation of diocese policy for Albino to tell Cutcher that, which tipped Cutcher off, according to a Jan. 12, 2021, email between Montgomery County prosecutors about the investigation.
Text messages between Cutcher and Albino, viewed by authorities, reveal that the principal had set up a meeting with Cutcher on Jan. 8, a few days before his death.
Albinos wife, Kathleen Albino, told authorities that, her husband was going to handle the complaint internally and that (the music director) wanted to go over his head straight to the archdiocese, and called her husband on Jan. 8, telling him what he was going to do. After that call, Albino sent a text to Cutcher asking to see him and then left the home, according to the prosecutors report.
Montgomery County Prosecutors Report by webeditors on Scribd
When I asked Cutcher about the meeting, he said, I honestly have no recollection of that. I dont remember the text or the meeting with Ron.
Investigators also noted that all communications with Albino on Cutchers phone were missing. When they asked Cutcher about it, he claimed that he deletes texts with people all the time and regularly, according to the prosecutors report.
Kathleen Albino also told investigators that she thought the situation was being overblown by the complaining music director. She thought that (the music director) was upset at her husband because (his) hours were cut and her husband was the one who made that decision, according to the prosecutors report.
Cutcher agreed.
You read the report. Notice where the allegation came from. It came from a staff member, a disgruntled staff member. This did not come from the child, the parents of the child, or anybody else associated with it, Cutcher told me.
Cutcher also said he did not know why Albino committed suicide but speculated it could be the pressures of remote learning, stalled school enrollment or a family history of suicide.
The problem is, and I hate to sound selfish, Cutcher said. His death turbocharged the whole thing.
Fr. Cutcher talks about the principal’s suicide
Part 3: The Hard Drive
While authorities investigated Cutchers actions at St. Peter, he said the Archdiocese of Cincinnati asked him to go to St. Lukes Institute in Maryland. It is a treatment center that specializes in helping priests, deacons and the religious, according to its website.
But St. Lukes did not have an immediate opening, Cutcher said, so he spent two months at a retirement center for priests in Ludlow Falls. When he finally arrived, he spent a month being evaluated, speaking to counselors, and participating in group, art, drama and music therapies.
At the end of that there is a feedback session with the chancellor on the line, Cutcher said. They recommend(ed) a restriction in ministry that I not be allowed to be in ministry with 18- to 25-year-old males and they basically say, were not finding any pedophile tendencies, but we feel that you would benefit greatly from a six-month stay.”
Cutcher said he felt as if he had no choice but to resign from active ministry.
The chancellor said on the phone that as long as there is a restriction there, even if I stayed at St. Lukes, they would not guarantee me any ministry when I returned, Cutcher said. When I went to my therapy session, the therapist told me even if you finish the six-month course, were not going to release the restriction.
But Cutcher said this was not his first trip to St. Lukes.
He said he spent a week at St. Luke’s in 2018, at the archdioceses request, after facing child pornography allegations from a different church.
Notice Im sitting here. Nothing criminal happened, Cutcher said in our interview.
It happened at Holy Rosary Church in St. Marys, a rural area filled with cross-tipped churches. Cutcher was pastor there for several years until 2012, when he left to become president of the National Federation of Priests Councils in Chicago.
A new pastor, Fr. Barry Stechschulte, arrived at Holy Rosary in July 2012. He and Deacon Marty Brown told police they discovered what looked like child pornography while refurbishing an old desktop computer from a storage room, which had been used by Cutcher.
I asked Marty why they were reporting this now with him stating that he thought Father Barry felt guilty for not reporting it when it happened, six years ago, St. Marys Police Sgt. Lucas Turpin wrote in a Sept.19, 2018 report.
Father Barry said that upon looking at the computer he found two file folders, one containing male homosexual pornography and the other file contained pictures of boys he said he can only recall boys with no shirts on. I asked him if the kids were obviously underage with him saying yes and that they were preteen, probably 8 to 10 years of age, according to St. Marys 2018 police report.
He did describe the boys as being in provocative poses. He again said he could not recall nudity or not, but it could have been, Stechschulte told police, according to the report.
St. Mary’s Police Report by webeditors on Scribd
Police were never able to determine if anything illegal existed on that computer hard drive.
The deacon told police that he took the hard drive out of the computer and destroyed it with a blow torch at the request of Stechschulte, according to the police report.
Stechschulte admitted to police that he told Marty that he wanted the stuff erased, yet also expressed regret, according to the police report.
Father Barry said at the time, he did not realize the repercussions of not revealing what they had found. Father Barry again said that he should not have destroyed the evidence, according to the police report.
Cutcher said he first learned of these allegations when a St. Marys policeman walked into his office at St. Peter in Huber Heights in 2018.
I said, not sure what youre talking about he basically called me a liar, Cutcher said. Then he asked for my computer. The current one that I was using there at St. Peters. I said, Do you have a warrant? He said, No but I can get one.
Angi gave St. Marys police permission to examine the computers at St. Peter. Authorities also reviewed four desktop computer towers that had been in storage at Holy Rosary since Cutcher left in 2012, according to the police report.
Computers were sent to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and showed no child pornography or anything of concern, according to the St. Marys police report. The investigation has revealed that there is not enough evidence to charge Fr. Cutcher with any type of child pornography law. At this point the case is closed.
Cutcher spent a week at St. Lukes Institute for evaluation, at the archdioceses request, he said. When he returned to St. Peter, he said parishioners never knew the truth about where he had been.
As far as the parish was concerned, I went on retreat, Cutcher said.
When Angi reported Cutcher to Montgomery County prosecutors in 2021, he mentioned the 2018 incident.
A forensic analysis of the attorney generals office found pornography but no child porn. We sent Father Cutcher for evaluation. He sees a psychologist and his computers are monitored by RAN Consulting, Angi wrote in the Jan. 12, 2021, email to prosecutors.
Part 4: The Missing Letter
An archdiocese spokesperson did not respond to a request for an interview, but in a statement said, The pastoral center of the archdiocese has reported this case to law enforcement from the very beginning. This has included reports to law enforcement in 2012, 2018 and 2021. In each instance no criminal charges were filed.
When I asked the archdiocese which agency it reported Cutcher to in 2012, and the nature of the allegation, spokesperson Jennifer Schack responded in a June 6 email, We are not disclosing that information at this time.
So, I searched for the missing information and found I was not the only entity asking about the 2012 accusation.
Later that same day, on June 6, a legal assistant from the Dinsmore & Shohl law firm, which has historically represented the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, faxed a request to the Auglaize County prosecutors office. It asked for all records relating to an attached November 13, 2012, letter, which notified the prosecutor of alleged pornography on Cutchers old computer at Holy Rosary Church.
The 2012 letter states in part:
In the absence of our chancellor, Fr. Steve Angi, I am submitting a report that Father Barry Stechschulte and Deacon Martin Brown, Holy Rosary Parish, St. Marys Ohio, sent that alleges that they found pornography on the computer of the former pastor, Father Anthony Cutcher, who now resides in Chicago, Illinois. They further state that they destroyed the computer but realize they should have preserved it, wrote Thomas Coz, Safe Environment Coordinator for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Auglaize County Prosecutor Edwin Pierce, who has held office since 1997, responded that neither I, nor the office manager, have any recollection of receiving this letter in November 2012, and did not have any records related to Cutcher, he wrote back to Dinsmore & Shohl.
St. Marys Police Chief Jake Sutton also told me that his office had no record of a 2012 report or investigation.
We have searched our files for such a letter and have not found any reference to a letter. Further, even if such a letter had been received, it would have been disposed of in accordance with our records retention policy, Pierce wrote.
Dinsmore & Shohl also sent Pierces office a November 12, 2012, statement from Deacon Martin Brown, that purportedly accompanied the archdioceses letter reporting Cutcher to the office.
Brown wrote in his statement in part:
Testimony of the destruction of Fr. Anthony Cutchers computer used while he was pastor at Holy Rosary Parish in St. Marys, Ohio during the year 2007 On October 24, 2012, I was searching for a used computer that could be used in the parish youth room when I opened the video library, I found very disturbing videos that had been downloaded from a laptop. These videos were of young male actors undressing and masturbating. Some of the actors were dressed in camouflage clothing like the men of our armed forces wear. They were performing in sexually provocative positions appearing to be having sex with each other. There were several videos in this library. Im not sure of the ages of these actors. They appeared to be mid to late teens Fr. Barry came to my office we looked at two of the videos to confirm that they were downloaded from a laptop and then deleted all the videos in the file. We discussed how we thought some bad choices had been made by downloading these types of videos, but it was not our place to judge since we didnt know the age of the actors. We decided to destroy the computer. I took the computer to my workshop at home and disassembled it. I then took my blow torch and melted the electronic pieces and recycled the metal cabinet. The next day I reported to Fr. Barry that the computer had been destroyed.
WCPO Public Record Request by webeditors on Scribd
Cutcher said he did not know of any allegation made against him in 2012.
If it was a credible allegation they would have followed the procedure, Cutcher said. They would have called me. They would have removed me.
Meanwhile, Brown is still listed as a deacon on the Holy Rosary Church website. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Stechschulte is now pastor of St. Susanna Catholic Church in Mason. He responded to a request for an interview by directing me to the archdiocese.
Archdiocese spokesperson Jennifer Schack would not disclose if Brown or Stechschulte had ever been disciplined in this case.
Choosing to destroy evidence of possible crimes against children, rather than turning it over to law enforcement, is something I dont understand, Kircher said. Hes either trying to protect the perpetrator, Father Cutcher, or hes trying to protect the church.
Part 5: The Precedent
Attorney Konrad Kircher was sitting in the Cincinnati courtroom in November 2003, and remembers the stunning scene as Archbishop Daniel Pilarcyzk entered a no contest plea on behalf of the archdiocese for failing to report sexually abusive priests.
It was the first time a Catholic institution in the United States had been convicted of such a crime.
As part of the historic plea deal, the archdiocese agreed to establish a $3 million fund to compensate sexual abuse victims and promised to report future allegations to prosecutors promptly.
The Archdiocese agreed that within 24 hours of receiving an allegation, they would report it to law enforcement or to the prosecutors office, Kircher said.
But after hearing Cutchers story, and following the case of former priest Geoff Drew who pleaded guilty in 2021 to raping an altar boy, Kircher said the promised reforms from two decades ago, were lip service.
They didnt change the culture, Kircher said. They havent changed which side they err on[DG6] [PM7] . They havent changed accountability. They continue to give the benefit of the doubt to the clergy member who is still risking the health and safety of children.
Following Drews arrest, archdiocese officials said they made serious mistakes in responding to parishioners concerns about his behavior dating back at least six years.
Parishioners of St. Maximilian Kolbe, where Drew was once pastor, expressed concerns to the central office of the archdiocese in 2013 and again in 2015, according to a news release from the archdiocese.
Drew’s concerning behavior included uninvited bear hugs, shoulder massages, patting of the leg above the knee, and inappropriate sexual comments about ones body or appearance, directed at teenage boys, the release said.
In Cutchers text messages to the 14-year-old boy, he mentioned Drew.
Dont know if you heard. Bishop Binzer resigned as the auxiliary bishop today, Cutcher texted the 14-year-old boy on May 7, 2020.
When the boy asked why, Cutcher responded, The Pope did not think he handled the case of Fr. Geoff Drew correctly Yeah Fr. Geoff was accused by a guy from like 1988. But no one can make a case. The sheriff said no crime was committed.
Cutcher went on to write, Since it wasnt a crime, Bishop Binzer didnt tell Archbishop. Then the guy came forward again last year. Started a media storm. So they had to remove Fr. Geoff.
Well that stinks, the boy responded.
Ya. Its sad. It affects us all. Just the way I have to interact with all you guys. I have to constantly be thinking how it looks to someone else, Cutcher wrote.
As a precaution, Cutcher said he purposely kept his text messages with the boy.
I actually kept the phone conversations in my phone. I normally delete my texts usually a week or two at a time, just to save space, Cutcher said. But I knew that I needed to save texts from that conversation in case something like this should ever happen.
Since his resignation from active ministry, Cutcher said he receives no financial compensation from the archdiocese and has no communication with archdiocesan officials.
But he said the archdiocese did forward to him the May 29 email that I sent containing questions about the Cutcher case.
Cutcher: They were not pleased.Paula: Why did they do that, was it like a warning?Cutcher: Oh yeah. Fr. Cutcher explains the Archdiocese told him about our investigation
I spoke to several parents who had children at St. Peters School, who complained about the lack of transparency and information the archdiocese provided to them in the wake of Cutchers resignation and Albinos suicide. But none of them wanted to be identified.
One parent hired a private investigator to get more information about the case and turned over the findings to Huber Heights police, who in turn passed the documents onto Montgomery County prosecutors.
It appeared there was no new evidence and no criminal offenses were immediately identified, Huber Heights Det. R. Bluma wrote in a Feb. 23, 2022 report, about receiving the private investigators report.
When Angi first reported Cutcher to prosecutors, he raised the question of whether Cutchers behavior could be considered grooming.
We placed Father Cutcher on leave yesterday pending an investigation. He will be coming in to meet with us tomorrow. Somehow this might seem as grooming. What would you advise, Angi wrote in a Jan. 12 email to the Montgomery County prosecutors office.
While grooming a minor by an adult is not a crime in Ohio, as it is in many other states, it could be soon.
Longtime lawmaker Bill Seitz co-sponsored a bill last year to define and criminalize child sexual grooming.
The Geoff Drew case is what led to the statute on grooming, Seitz said in a March interview. Because folks were concerned that he was being passed around from parish to parish and up to no good to whichever parish he went.
The Ohio House passed the grooming bill in April. It was introduced in the Senate in May and assigned to the Judiciary Committee, where it is awaiting a hearing.
I know that quite often we keep hearing, well it wasnt criminal, it wasnt criminal. But did we do appropriate investigations to make sure there wasnt more, Dinwiddie-Herrmann asked.
If grooming becomes illegal in Ohio, she said it will give law enforcement an opportunity to investigate further.
If theres not a law that gives law enforcement the opportunity to dig deeper, we need such a law, Dinwiddie-Herrmann said.
She was concerned with what authorities found on Cutchers cell phone during an extraction. Especially since the archdiocese was supposed to be monitoring his devices after the 2018 allegation.
Items marked of interest were a history of website traffic/bookmarks of gay porn. Some of the titles of the websites visited had teen, boys, son and young in them. A review of the websites was conducted, some of the websites were no longer valid and the others depicting adult pornography, Smoot wrote in his 2021 Montgomery County prosecutors report.
When I asked Cutcher about this, he said he only used one website.
Cutcher: It was an aggregator that pulls stuff from other places and so they always like to give salacious headlines. I paid no attention to those.Paula: Do you think that because it contained the words of boys and son and young, do you think that parents of boys that you interact with might find that concerning?Cutcher: Oh, Im sure they would.
Cutcher went on to explain that those searches were accidental, and not purposeful.
Epilogue: Return To Ministry?
When I began my 90-minute interview with Cutcher, he explained how he wanted to return to active ministry to help the archdiocese deal with a shortage of priests and help clergy who may feel overworked or want to retire.
As head of the National Federation of Priests Councils, Cutcher said he often traveled for training and lectures, and gave a two-day presentation on the Dallas Decree on Child Protection, I know it fairly well.
So, I can hit the lecture circuit. I can help out with Sunday masses I can hear confessions at communal penance services where there are other priests present, Cutcher said. There are all kinds of things I can do ministerially. I can work in the office of Beacons of Light.
But by the end of the interview, Cutcher seemed to feel differently.
Paula: Would you come back if you could to the priesthood?Cutcher: I think after this interview that is going to be an impossibility.Paula Is anything I said, is it not true?Cutcher: No. no. Its just an embarrassment. You know hearing all of this concentrated in one space, in the space of an hour and a half, I can see why the diocese would say No. Should the public be concerned about Fr. Cutcher?
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