Franciscan Brother Who Sexually Abused Boy in Inver Grove Heights Commits Suicide

A Franciscan brother who committed suicide on Jan. 26 in the midst of wide-ranging sexual abuse allegations also abused a Minnesotan boy while he was teaching catechism in the 1970s at St. Patrick’s Church in Inver Grove Heights.

Brother Stephen Baker, 62, was found dead in a Hollidaysburg, Penn., monastery as a result of a self-inflicted knife wound to the heart, the Associated Press reported.

Douglas Larson, 49, of St. Cloud, Minn., told a Youngstown, Ohio, television station that he felt closure when he heard about the suicide and that he felt his name should be public because he had done nothing wrong.

“This is a chapter in my book that is closed,” Larson told WKBN-TV. “He can’t do anything to me or anybody else.”

Larson told the station he believed he was one of Baker's first victims. Baker later taught at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio, and Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Penn, according to WKBN-TV, and more than 80 former students claimed he had sexually abused them.

Larson settled with the Third Order Regular Franciscans for $50,000 in 2005. Baker worked as a gardener at a monastery after the settlement.

Larson was in eighth grade when he met Baker. His mother also taught religion classes at St. Patrick's.

“I think it just depresses you,” Larson told WKBN-TV. “You feel dirty. You’re like, what did I do that he wanted to be with me? I always felt dirty, even after when I was with a woman. There were times I drank a lot. There hasn’t been a week that’s gone by that it hasn’t come up in my mind.”