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The FBI’s interviews of an inner-city Milwaukee Catholic priest and his choir director as part of a “pretextual stop” of a person of interest in a criminal investigation was not related to “the Catholic Church, its clergy, or their activities,” an agency spokesman said Wednesday.
The FBI conducted the interviews in late March and early April as part of an investigation into “an individual,” Special Agent Leonard Peace said in an email. He declined to say what kind of criminal activity the individual was suspected of.
Peace said the interviews were part of a “pretextual stop,” which occurs when authorities use an unrelated inquiry as a way to contact someone they cannot directly question about a specific criminal matter.
Peace said that the FBI did not consider the interviews a raid and was in contact with church officials throughout the process. He said the interviews were conducted, in part, in an effort to build goodwill with the Catholic community and to better understand how the Church operates.
The Milwaukee Archdiocese released a statement Wednesday saying that it was “pleased” that the FBI investigation was not related to the Church or its activities. It said it has always been and will remain “fully cooperative with law enforcement investigations.”