Former Boys Town priest denies abuse accusations

OMAHA, Neb. -- A former Boys Town priest and Nevada prison chaplain at the center of sexual abuse allegations has denied any wrongdoing and said Monday he was considering a lawsuit to clear his name.

The Rev. James Kelly is not named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed Jan. 30 against Boys Town by former resident James Duffy.

However, Duffy alleges in his lawsuit against the famous home for troubled youth that Kelly and a counselor, the late Michael Wolf, repeatedly abused him in the late 1970s.

"Somebody said I should be proactive, and I'm thinking about it," Kelly said about a defamation of character lawsuit.

Four other men have made allegations against Kelly and Wolf, the Omaha World-Herald reported Sunday. None has filed a lawsuit.

"I definitely deny it," Kelly told The Associated Press of all allegations. "The stuff that is coming out now, they are coming out of the woodwork."

He wondered if the lawsuit and allegations were driven by finances, given the perceived deep pockets of Boys Town.

"That's an obvious thing to think," Kelly said. "But that's wrong, they have all their money tied up helping kids."

James Martin Davis, the attorney hired by Boys Town to lead an investigation into the claims, did not return repeated telephone calls made Sunday and Monday by The Associated Press seeking comment.

The Rev. Robert Hupp, who was Boys Town director in the late 1970s, has said he never received a negative report about Wolf and remembered Kelly as a disciplinarian who had the best interests of children at heart.

Both Wolf and Kelly left Boys Town in 1983, a year before Peter became director. The school's name was changed to Girls and Boys Town in 2000.

Kelly said Monday the allegations have destroyed his career.

He had been chaplain at three of the correctional facilities in Carson City where he lives. Ordained in Albany, N.Y., Kelly was placed on administrative leave by the Catholic bishops of Nevada and New York after the lawsuit was filed.

"I lost my job, I had to retire from the prison system," the 70-year-old Kelly said. "I've been through a terrific amount of emotional suffering."

Kelly also was accused of sexual misconduct in 1983 and 1984 in New York, but two investigations by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany found the allegations not credible. However, the diocese did send Kelly to therapy and evaluation after the first investigation in the mid-1980s.

The lawsuit filed by Duffy, whose mother is a cousin to Peter, the Boys Town director, also names the Omaha Roman Catholic Archdiocese as a defendant.

ON THE NET

Girls and Boys Town: http://www.girlsandboystown.org/home.asp

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha: http://www.archomaha.com/

Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, N.Y.: http://www.rcda.org/

Nevada Corrections Association: http://www.nevadacorrections.org/