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Victim of sex abuse at Jesuit files formal complaint with attorney general

Richard Windmann has asked the state AG to get and release a list of clergy who have been the subjects of credible allegations of abuse

Richard Windmann was a boy in the 1970s when, he said, a janitor at Jesuit High School raped and sexually abused him for years.

As an adult, Windmann reached a $450,000 settlement with Jesuit in 2012.

That settlement was never revealed until The New Orleans Advocate reported it last week.

Now, as new claims such as Windmann's once again rock the Catholic church, he's asked the state Attorney General's office and State Police to get involved.

Windmann on Sunday filed a formal complaint with the AG’s office, a copy of which he provided to WWL-TV. Late Monday evening he asked for State Police to get involved as well.

Those formal complaints follow the admission by New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond that his office has a list of clergy who have been the subjects of credible allegations of abuse. It's a list Aymond told The Advocate he and his fellow bishops in the state are considering releasing.

In Windmann's letter to Attorney General Jeff Landry, Windmann writes, "I'll leave it up to you as to how to do your job, but I think you should get a warrant that is signed by a judge, take that list, and make it public and to fullest extent possible by law, prosecute those on the list after doing a comprehensive investigation.”

Landry’s office on Monday evening did not respond to a request for comment. Aymond was unavailable since he was celebrating a confirmation Mass on the north shore, an archdiocese spokeswoman said.

Aymond told The Advocate that making the list public would require conversations with everyone on it. He also expressed concern about revealing allegations against those who have died since they cannot defend themselves.

"In my opinion, you should (want) to get on the right side of this,” Windmann's letter to Landry continued.

Landry issued a statement earlier this month that he does not intend to launch a statewide investigation into sexual abuse in the church.

Last week, Gov. John Bel Edwards said he did not know of any recent reports to state law enforcement about sex abuse in the Catholic church in Louisiana.

He said that if a complaint were to be filed, the state would launch an investigation.

Danny Monteverde can be reached at danny@wwltv.com.

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