Reverend Joseph Briceno In 1992, a teenage boy's family reported that their son had been sexually assaulted between 1980 and 198 by Briceno, then an assistant pastor at St. Mary's Parish in
Chandler. They allowed the boy to have sleepovers at the rectory, when Briceno assaulted him. After the diocese suspended Briceno from ministry that year, he went to
Mexicali, Mexico, to serve in a parish there. When the diocese asked him to return to Arizona, he refused. In December 2005, Briceno was arrested by Mexican authorities and flown back to the United States. He pleaded guilty in October 2006 to two felony counts of sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced in December 2006 to two years in prison and three years on probation. However, since he had already served one year in prison, his actual prison time would be 90 days.
Monsignor Dale Fushek In May 2002, Fushek disclosed that in 1995 the diocese had settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by a former Life Teen staff member. In April 2004, Bishop
Thomas Olmsted accepted Fushek's resignation from his position as vicar general. In late December 2004, additional complaints against Fushek emerged and the diocese began to conduct an investigation. Fushek was placed on paid administrative leave shortly thereafter. Fushek was arrested on November 21, 2005, and charged with ten criminal misdemeanor counts related to alleged sexual contact with teens and young adults. The charges included three counts of
misdemeanor assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of
indecent exposure. The number of counts was reduced to seven when one of the victims died. On April 15, 2010, Fushek pled guilty to one count of misdemeanor assault. He was sentenced to 364 days of probation and fined $250. Four other charges were dropped. The plea agreement eliminated the need for other alleged victims to testify at a trial.
Reverend John Maurice Giandelone In 1979, Benjamin Kulina and his parents met with Bishop
James Rausch to complain about Giandelone, then assigned to St. Joseph's Parish in Phoenix. They told Rausch that Giandelone had sexually abused Benjamin several times in Chandler and on a camping trip. Rausch referred the family to Monsignor Thomas O'Brien, then the
vicar general of the diocese. O'Brien advised the Kulinas to not say anything about it and let the diocese handle him. The diocese sent Giandelone to the Servants of the Paraclete treatment center in
Jemez Springs, New Mexico, and then assigned him to St. Mary's Parish in Chandler In 1984, Giandelone was a friend of Lillian and Al Jones, along with their 15-year-old son Fred, parishioners at St. Mary's. While Giandelone was visiting their home one evening, Al discovered him having oral sex with Fred. Fred then admitted to his parents that the priest had been abusing him for the past two years. The Jones family called the Chandler Police Department. In 1985, Giandelone pleaded guilty to attempted child molesting and was sentenced to one year in jail. However, a
work release program allowed him to continue working days in the diocese. Diocesan records later showed that Giandelone had abused another teenage boy in 1980 and the diocese had sent him away for treatment. In December 2002, Benjamin Kulina spoke with prosecutors about his sexual abuse by Giandelone. He had left the priesthood in the later 1980s and was now living in
Fort Myers, Florida. Giandelone pleaded guilty in January 2003 to two counts of child molestation and was sentenced to between nine and 22 months in prison.
Reverend Joseph John Henn A lawsuit was filed against the diocese in June 2003 by a young man who claimed to have been sexually abused by Henn, a
Salvatorian priest. The plaintiff claimed that Henri, then serving at St. Mark Parish in East Phoenix, started abusing him when he was a 12-year-old altar in 1976; the abuse lasted for three years. In 1983, the diocese learned of Henn's relationship with the victim as well as his abuse of a second boy, who committed suicide. The Salvatorians then assigned Henn to a girls' school in the Diocese of Sacramento. The Salvatorians would treat Henn three times for his attraction to boys; they expelled him from the order in 2006. The
Supreme Court of Cassation in Italy ordered his extradition in July 2006, but he escaped house arrest with the Salvatorians. In May 2019, Italian police arrested Henn in Rome; he was sent back to Arizona in June. Several of Henn's victims sued the diocese in 2020. He pleaded guilty in 2021 to six counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of attempt to commit molestation of a child. LeBrun was indicted by the Maricopa District Attorney in Arizona in May 2003 on one count of child abuse. He was arrested by the
Indiana State Police that month for extradition to Florida. More charges were added in July. In November 2005, LeBrun was convicted of three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and three counts of child molestation. His victims from Indiana testified during the trial. He was sentenced to 111 years in state prison in January 2006.
Reverend Karl LeClaire In 2001, a young man reported to the diocese that he had been sexually abused by LeClaire over a seven-period, starting when the victim was 13-years-old in 1993. LeClaire was the pastor at Queen of Peace Parish in
Mesa and principal of the parish school. During that period, LeClaire took the boy to Rome and Puerto Rico and gave him expensive gifts. The victim sued the diocese in August 2002, claiming that the diocese was aware of LeClaire's
pedophilia, but kept him in ministry. In June 2003, LeClaire was indicted on charges of
child molestation and sexual conduct with a minor. LeClaire pleaded guilty in October 2004 to one count of aggravated assault with sexual motivation. He was sentenced to one year in jail and three years of probation. The diocese settled the lawsuit with LeClaire's victim for $40,000 in 2006. == Prominent sexual abuse lawsuits ==