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Pastor apologizes to church

The head of a Dunedin church says he takes full responsibility in hiring a man charged with lewd and lascivious conduct.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published October 1, 2005

DUNEDIN - The pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church has apologized to his parishioners for hiring a man accused of making a lewd proposition to a teenager.

Father Tom Madden took sole responsibility for hiring William Forte as the church's facilities manager in February 2004. Forte, 60, was arrested last week on charges that he offered a teen $100 last year to perform a sex act, which the boy refused.

"This has been very disturbing for me," Madden said Friday during his first interview about the case. "I carry the weight and pain of a lot of people's lives on my soul."

Madden said he knew Forte had an arrest record when he hired him. In 1992, Forte had been charged in Polk County with showing pornography to six teens, giving them alcohol and paying them for sex. He ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and received six months' probation.

Madden said Forte denied the "sexual connotations" of the charges.

"After hearing his explanation and in good faith, I believed every bit of it," said Madden, who reviewed files from Polk County for the first time this week.

Forte, who is free after posting $20,000 bail, officially resigned his position on Wednesday during a meeting with Madden. Madden said he would have fired him otherwise.

"(Forte) felt it was in the best interest of everyone," said Forte's attorney, Deborah Moss, in explaining his resignation. "He loves that church. He feels terrible that someone has made these allegations," she said.

Moss would not answer questions about the charges against Forte, who could not be reached for comment Friday.

The incident for which Forte was charged last week took place in 2004, according to sheriff's investigators.

Forte was supervising the teen and instructed him to follow him into the bathroom to clean it. There, Forte offered the boy money if he would perform a sex act, detectives said.

The allegation did not surface until August, when the boy's mother overheard him telling another friend not to do his community service at Forte's church, sheriff's officials said. When the mother asked why, her son revealed what had happened.

Detectives are investigating whether Forte, who was charged with lewd and lascivious conduct, had or tried to have inappropriate relations with other juveniles.

On Friday, Madden would not say whether he believed Forte was a danger to young people or whether other allegations had come to his attention, citing an ongoing investigation.

He met with about 250 parishioners Thursday night to tell them of Forte's termination and to apologize.

In the future, parents and other parish members will have a part in reviewing people hired at the church, Madden said.

"I carry very personally a lot of sadness that this event has hurt so many people," he said.

Madden referred people with concerns about Forte to Marti Zeitz, a victim assistance specialist with the Catholic Church, at (866) 407-4505.

Sheriff's officials ask anyone with information about Forte to contact Detective Randall Jones of the Crimes Against Children Unit at (727) 582-6200.

[Last modified October 1, 2005, 01:45:17]