MARTINEZ — A former Oakland priest who lost his position after he was implicated in a massive sex abuse scandal has been charged with drunk driving and manslaughter, days after he allegedly killed a man behind the wheel,
Stephen Kiesle, 75, was charged with killing 64-year-old Curtis Gunn in the Saturday night crash in Rossmoor. He was set to be arraigned on Thursday afternoon in Martinez.
The charges contain enhancements citing Kiesle’s 2004 conviction of molesting a teen girl nine years earlier. Kiesle’s bail has been set at $600,000 and he remains in county jail, prosecutors said.
According to police, Kiesle was driving drunk when his car jumped the curb on Tice Creek Drive and struck Gunn and his wife, who were on an evening stroll. Gunn’s wife suffered minor injuries, authorities said.
Kiesle was a priest in Oakland, and remained part of the church during the 1970s and 80s, despite a conviction of molesting two boys in 1978. He was defrocked in 1987. In 2004, he was charged with 13 child molestation counts, most of which were later dismissed by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that invalidated California’s statute of limitations.
In 2004, he pleaded no contest to a molestation count and was sentenced to prison. After his release for a subsequent parole violation in 2010, he was forced to register as a sex offender and moved into the unincorporated Contra Costa community of Rossmoor.
Curtis Gunn’s wife, Laurelyn Gunn, told the Rossmoor News that she and her husband were walking home and were approaching an intersection when they were hit by the vehicle.
“There was a strange noise behind us,” Laurelyn Gunn told the News. “The only way I can describe it is it sounded like thunder at ground level. It was the car jumping up on the sidewalk.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com