At least three men are accusing Rev. Michael Pfleger, a prominent Chicago priest who gained a national profile for his progressive social activism, of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers.
An out-of-state 59-year-old truck driver who lived in Chicago as a teenager claims in a statement to church officials that Pfleger, 71, once grabbed the crotch over his clothes in the priest’s room at St. Sabina’s Church. The statement was released on Wednesday by lawyer Eugene Hollander, who also represents two brothers who accuse Pfleger of misconduct.
The truck driver said his supposed meeting with Pfleger took place in the summer of 1979, when he was 18.
The accuser said he and Pfleger drank alcohol regularly, went to jazz clubs even though they were underage and smoked marijuana together before the alleged incident in the priest’s room.
“We smoked pot again and I pretended to be asleep. Mike came to me and called my name a few times to see if I was asleep, ”said the man in his statement. “I didn’t move and then Mike grabbed my penis over my clothes. I didn’t allow Mike to touch me in a sexual way, so I pushed his hand away.”
Pfleger’s lawyers, Michael Monico and James Figliulo, issued a joint statement on Wednesday denying the latter allegation.
“Father Pfleger definitely states that this supposed incident, which would have occurred when the man was 18, did not happen,” say the lawyers. “He never touched this man in any sexual or inappropriate way at all.” Lawyers also denied that Pfleger took him to clubs or smoked marijuana with him.
In a statement on Wednesday to NBC Chicago, the Archdiocese of Chicago said, “We have received the affidavit and will process it as we do with all allegations.”
In January, two brothers in their 60s claimed that Pfleger abused them in the 1970s, when he was a seminarian in Chicago and they were in a church choir.
Monico and Figliulo also rejected these claims, saying “these claims are false”.
The archdiocese is investigating Pfleger over the brothers’ claims. The 59-year-old trucker showed up after the brothers made their claims, according to Hollander.
“He is not looking for any compensation, he just wants the truth to be revealed,” Hollander told NBC News on Wednesday.
Pfleger has long been against racism, violence and other social inequalities in Chicago. The archdiocese asked him to step aside from his ministry while she investigated the allegations.
