March 19, 2013 (JOLIET, Ill.) (WLS) -- The I-Team has learned that a secret archive containing records on priests accused of sexual abuse was covered up for years in the Diocese of Joliet. Also included in the files was information on the suicides of victims who complained, but were ignored.
The archive contains hidden personnel files of priests who, according to the records, allegedly violated their oath of fidelity. Yet the files were concealed by bishops who broke their oath of honesty.
The files contain alleged incidents that spanned more than six decades.
Dave Rudofski is one of the faces of innocence lost in the Diocese of Joliet. In 1982, Rudofski was 8 years old and living in Mokena.
He was an altar boy at St. Mary's Parish, and says he was molested while giving his first confession to Father James Burnett.
- DOWNLOAD: Father Burnett: Review Committee Allegations (pdf)
Thirty years later, Rudofski sued the diocese. His legal settlement demanded that other confidential personnel files be unlocked by the diocese.
The files are now public, but only because of Rudofski's court settlement required them to be.
"There are over 91 separate places were these sexual predators served in the Diocese of Joliet. According to our experts, that is at least 75% of the parishes the Joliet Diocese had a sexual predator priest serving in," said Terry Johnson, Rudofski's attorney.
Victim complaints, memos and medical evaluations were stashed away by several bishops and other top leaders, Johnson says.
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