http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1126880443/3

William Mueller in 1971 photo

By PATRICK MALONE
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Lawyers for two men who are suing the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo and the Marianist religious order said Thursday that more suits are expected to be filed accusing a former Roncalli High School teacher of rendering students unconscious with ether and molesting them.

Two suits seeking $10 million each were filed in Pueblo district court Wednesday against the diocese and The Marianist Province of the United States over allegations that they were molested by Brother William Mueller. Mueller taught band and theology at Roncalli from 1966 through its closure in 1971.

Roncalli was operated by the diocese and staffed by Marianists.

The suits accuse Mueller of using the guise of an experiment toward his master's degree in psychology to convince the students to let him knock them out with ether in 1968 and 1969. After they were unconscious, Mueller allegedly fondled one student and sodomized the other.

Mueller is not named as a defendant in the suits. He lives in his hometown of San Antonio. When reached by phone there on Wednesday, Mueller said he had no comment about the suits.

Adam Horowitz, a Miami lawyer with the firm of Herman & Mermelstein, said similar allegations have been made against Mueller by former students whom he taught during the 1980s at Catholic high schools in St. Louis.

Brother Stephen Glodek, head of the Marianist Province in St. Louis, said he was contacted by investigators three weeks ago and served with a grand-jury subpoena for the religious order's records on Mueller.

"They were investigating a criminal act of some kind," Glodek said. "According to the statement I received, it was not of a sexual nature." Glodek said Mueller's record with the Marianists contains no allegations of sexual abuse. However, Glodek acknowledged that Mueller's file contained information about unspecified "bizarre behavior" that resulted in Mueller's enrollment in a treatment program in New Mexico for troubled men of the cloth.

"I don't have anything in the file about what the precipitation was for sending him to the treatment program," Glodek said.

The lawyers for the plaintiffs said the treatment was for pedophilia.

Glodek said he was contacted about Mueller by the Pueblo diocese two years ago. A representative of the diocese reportedly had spoken with a former Roncalli student who accused Mueller of inappropriate behavior, but did not mention any allegations of sexual abuse.

Glodek said the representative of the diocese was seeking to learn whether Mueller still belonged to the Marianists. He left the order in 1986.

According to Marianist spokeswoman Diane Guerra, Mueller left the order voluntarily.

"I do not wish to live my vows any longer," Mueller's resignation letter said.

Monsignor Mark Plewka, chancellor of the Pueblo diocese, said diocesan records contain no information suggesting that the diocese was aware of allegations of sexual impropriety by Mueller when he worked in Pueblo.

Deputy Chief John Ercul of the Pueblo Police Department said Thursday that police have no record of any reports accusing Mueller of crimes.

Chief of Staff Terry Hart of the Pueblo district attorney's office said the statute of limitations on rape is 10 years from the date the crime is reported. He said the district attorney's office would have to research whether Wednesday marked the beginning of the limit before committing to an investigation of Mueller's alleged acts.

Glodek said even in the late 1960s, the Marianists would have taken action against Mueller if the allegations were brought to the attention of the order's hierarchy.

"Given what's alleged, it would have been a source of immediate dismissal from the school and enrollment in treatment, even 30 years ago," Glodek said.

Glodek said the Marianists plan to follow up with alumni of Roncalli to determine whether others were abused by Mueller. He said the order's foremost concern is for those who may have been wronged.