Earlier this week, St. Louis Community College (SLCC) suspended music professor Lawrence Stukenholtz for sexual misconduct. Stukenholtz was not suspended for any misdeeds at SLCC, but for incidents at Matter Dei High School in California, a Catholic institution.
Court records show that after reports of sexual relationships and abuse with female minors, Stukenholtz was offered the chance to resign or else face a full investigation. He resigned and eventually wound up teaching music at SLCC.
When one of Stukenholtz’s victims, Sarah Gray, found out about his position in St. Louis she contacted the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Local SNAP officials say they told SLCC administrators about Stukenholtz’s past, but after no action was taken, they met with Gray and hand-delivered a letter to the school’s main office.
Following the delivery, Stukenholtz was suspended.
Gray’s legal options against Stukenholtz are limited since she already settled a case, along with other victims.
“The settlement was basically a way for myself and the other girls to move forward,” says Gray.
Gray is currently pushing to get Stukenhotlz indicted on charges of sexual abuse of a child in Orange County, California.
PubDef talked with Gray before she and SNAP representatives delivered their letter to the SLCC.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:25 am
kudos to Gray for having the courage to be interviewed
December 25th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
So was he actually fired eventually, or is he getting paid by the state to sit alone in a room and read magazines?
January 1st, 2008 at 11:36 am
She’s lying to get the money. These women all know they can get away with this because the Catholic churches don’t want the publicity. It’s really sad. If she were telling the truth, she’d donate the money to charity. Do you see her doing that. NO!
February 14th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
There’s some inaccuracies in the article accompanying the video. Sarah was the only female minor accusing Larry Stukenholtz’s of misconduct. SARAH believes there might be others - but thus far no other women have accused Stukenholtz of anything. Criminal charges were not pressed until there was already too much time elapsed for Sarah to press criminal charges, so she could only file a complaint - therefore Larry Stukenholtz was not given the right to defend himself in the court of law. This is odd, considering that Stukenholtz was dismissed from his position at Mater Dei in 1999 because of this accusation yet her parents did not press criminal charges on her behalf and she did not press criminal charges until after she had won the civil settlement.
The settlement was for 4 women (Sarah Gray included) who had been students in the Orange County Catholic School district who had come forward with allegations of abuse at the hands of 4 different men. The settlement was paid out by the diocese - not Larry Stukenholtz. In this case, Sarah is inducing the public to believe that Larry is guilty until proven innocent.
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:10 am
And how do you know what she’s doing with the money? Kids who go through things like this often spend their lives in therapy trying to cope with the situation and understand what happened to them.