Samoa to Deport Fugitive Priest Named in Newspaper Investigation

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Samoa to Deport Fugitive Priest Named in Newspaper Investigation
The Associated Press
Published: Jun 23, 2004


DALLAS (AP) - The Samoan government said Wednesday it will deport a Roman Catholic priest because he did not disclose his conviction for child molestation when he entered the country in 1998.
The announcement that the Rev. Frank Klep would be deported came three days after The Dallas Morning News reported that the Salesians of Don Bosco, an order of Catholic priests, transferred clergy overseas to start new lives after the men were accused of sex abuse. The order has disputed the newspaper's report.

"We can't help but think what was foremost was to have Father Klep evade the law by assigning him overseas," said Auseuga Poloma Komiti, senior adviser to Samoa's prime minister and Cabinet. "They were not thinking or giving two hoots about the children of this country."

Klep will have three days to leave the South Pacific island voluntarily, Komiti said in a story posted on the Morning News Web site.

Klep was convicted in 1994 of sex offenses in the 1970s against a student at the Salesian College near Melbourne, Australia, where he had been principal. He was sentenced to nine months of community service.

Additional sex offenses were leveled against Klep, but in 1998 the order transferred him to Samoa.

Klep could now be forced to return to Australia, where there is a nationwide warrant for his arrest on five indecent assault charges alleging offenses against boys dating back to 1973.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBKHD97UVD.html