Wisconsin State Legislators Call for Church Abuse Probe

Nine Democratic lawmakers called on the state’s attorney general Monday to investigate 8,000 alleged sex offenses and as many as 100 previously unidentified offenders an attorney says are described in documents filed in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy.

The nine sent a letter to Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, calling the allegations, if true, “nothing short of a public safety crisis.” And they asked him to investigate

“We know that, left unchecked, child sexual predators will reoffend,” said the letter signed by state Sens. Lena Taylor, Julie Lassa, Robert Jauch and Jessica King; and Reps. Sandy Pasch, Chris Taylor, Robert Turner, Terese Berceau and Kelda Helen Roys.

“The concealment of these offenses may already have facilitated hundreds of additional crimes against young people,” they said.