Fr. Stephen Kiesle
ORDAINED: 1972
Assignments:
- 1973-1975: St. Joseph’s, Pinole, CA
- 1974-1975: Contra Junior College, El Cerrito, CA
- 1975-1978: Pre-Seminary Advisory Board
- 1976-1978: Our Lady of Rosary, Union City, CA
- 1979: St. Columba’s, Oakland, CA
- 1979-1981: Active leave
- 1982-2018: Unknown
Fr. Stephen Kiesle has been accused of sexually abusing at least 15 children from approximately 1972 to 1995. In 1978, Fr. Kiesle was arrested for sexually abusing two boys and as a result, he was put on three years’ probation and received counseling. In 1981, Fr. Kiesle left the priesthood and the diocese of Oakland submitted papers to the Vatican requesting that Fr. Kiesle be defrocked, but the Vatican waited until 1987 to do so. During this time, he reportedly left the priesthood and moved to Pinole, California where he worked as a youth minister at St. Joseph’s from 1985 until 1988. In 2002, he was arrested and charged on 13 counts of child sexual abuse that took place while he worked at Santa Paula during the 1960s and 1970s. However, all but two of the charges were dropped due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that changed the law surrounding the statutes of limitation. In 2004, he was accused of sexual abusing a 15-year-old girl and was sentenced to six years in prison. Fr. Kiesle was released on parole in 2009. After 7 months of being released, he violated his parole and had to go back to prison until 2010. Upon release, he became a registered sex offender and moved to Rossmoor, a senior community, in Walnut Creek, California. Fr. Kiesle has been named in numerous civil lawsuits. Fr. Kiesle’s current whereabouts and whether he has access to children are unknown.