Priest Acquitted of Rape, Convicted of Molesting Girl in 1980s

AP ^ | 4/16/02 | Kim Curtis

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

A Roman Catholic priest was acquitted Tuesday of charges he raped a 14-year-old girl in a church in 1977 but convicted of molesting a 13-year-old girl four years later.

The Rev. Don Kimball, 58, was a popular youth minister who used rock 'n' roll to impart religious messages before the church removed him from his duties.

Kimball had denied the charges, though he admitted to having sex with adult women. He was tried more than two decades after the alleged crimes because of recent changes in state law that extended the statute of limitations for sex crimes involving children under 14.

Kimball will be sentenced May 15 on one count of committing a forcible lewd act upon a child and one count of committing a lewd act upon a child. The acts took place at St. John's Rectory in Healdsburg.

"This is for all the survivors of Don Kimball and clergy everywhere," the victim, Ellen Brem, said after the verdict. "I don't know if anyone who's been abused can every really move on."

Kimball faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

He had also been accused of raping Mary Agbayani, now 38, behind the altar of a Santa Rosa church in 1977. Agbayani claimed Kimball had arranged an abortion when the priest got her pregnant.

Agbayani said Tuesday she was not disappointed that Kimball was found innocent of rape.

"I feel like justice has been served," she said. "Doors are being opened and daughters are talking to mothers."

Kimball is one of about a dozen Catholic clergymen who worked or lived in the Santa Rosa diocese who have been accused of sexual misconduct since 1989.

The diocese says it has spent $7.4 million on settlements, counseling and attorneys' fees on sex abuse cases. That includes $1.6 million to settle a case against Kimball.

Kimball still faces an April 23 arraignment for allegedly assaulting a San Francisco Chronicle photographer outside the courtroom.