A former Catholic priest who spent time in prison for child molestation and is a registered sex offender was arrested Saturday night after a suspected DUI crash that killed a Rossmoor resident.
Walnut Creek Police said Tuesday that 75-year-old Stephen Kiesle was booked early Sunday into the Martinez Detention Facility on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and felony DUI. Bail was set at $250,000.
Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Jimmy Lee said Kiesle was still in custody Tuesday. According to the California Megan’s Law website, Kiesle is a resident of the Rossmoor retirement community.
Police said they were called about 9 p.m. about a car hitting two pedestrians who were walking on the sidewalk on Tice Creek Drive near Fairlawn Court in Rossmoor. The vehicle was on its side and the male driver, who was also the only occupant, was trapped inside.
Officers found Curtis Gunn at the scene with life-threatening injuries. Paramedics transported him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead Saturday night. His wife suffered minor injuries.
Kiesle, who police said also suffered minor injuries, was extricated from the vehicle by the fire department and later arrested.
According to the website, www.bishop-accountability.org, Kiesle was accused of sexually abusing at least 15 children. He pleaded no contest in 1978 to a misdemeanor charge of lewd conduct for tying up and molesting two boys and received three years’ probation, according to www.bishop-accountability.org. He left the priesthood in 1981, which didn’t become official until 1987. The website says Kiesle was sentenced to six years in prison in 2004, for sexually abusing a girl in 1995 at his Truckee vacation home. He was released in 2009.
Police said the case is pending review by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. Anyone with information about the case may contact the Walnut Creek Police Department at (925) 935-6400.
18 comments
Will the judge throw the GOOD book at him … stay tuned
Religion and the church are the biggest lies ever in the history of all existence, next to COVID.
How many lives is this guy destroyed? Death penalty please. Why not charge him with murder?
Why not learn something about the penal code?
You’d like to think that but in reality he will be housed in jail and in prison with people of similar criminal sophistication.
He is going to be safer than you are walking the street.
Wow… 75 years old and still ruining lives.
If he had any kind of conscience he’d do the world a favor & hang himself.
Former priests who were sex offenders against minors are allowed to and can afford to live in Rossmoor? SERIOUSLY???
Where did he get the money???
In my opinion, there is no reason that Kiesle should ever be out of jail again.
If pedophiles were treated with the cure appropriately when convicted there wouldn’t be any further issues.
Soft on crime doesn’t work.
Yep, and this guy still gets to go to heaven. While a good person who questions the church’s party line doesn’t What a messed up cult
Rich, how do you know he’s going to heaven? Asking for a friend…
Rich please educate me.
Where in the Bible does it say the Church decides who and who does not go to heaven?
Rich, the strongest language and actions that Jesus used were directed towards the religious leaders of his day. See Matthew 23 where he called them things like “off-spring of vipers”
God does not approve of or reward this type of behavior, especially when done in His name.
Boil Him !
Too bad he wasn’t on the other side of the situation
You’re going down, down, down…..
You’re gonna burn in Hell!
-Dee Snyder
Stephen Kiesle was featured on Claycord not too long ago http://claycord.com/2022/01/11/family-of-alleged-priest-abuse-victim-sues-oakland-diocese/
Since he was kicked out of the church in 81, and stopped receiving pay…had all benefits revoked…
What employment has he had since? What career did he have in 1995 that afforded him the life and access to kids?
he was probably a school teacher.
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