Former priest charged in 1970 sex assaults

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This article was published 02/08/2024 (492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An 81-year-old former priest at a small church in Lennard was arrested and charged in June for allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in his congregation in 1970.

Constantin Turcoane, formerly of St. Elijah Romanian Orthodox Church in the small community that is now within the RM of Riding Mountain West, surrendered himself to the Russell RCMP detachment on June 13 on charges of rape and sexual intercourse with a person under 14.

He formerly ran St. Elijah Romanian Orthodox Church, which is now part of the St. Elijah Pioneer Museum, about 210 kilometres northwest of Brandon.

Turcoane currently lives in Regina. An entry in the Saskatchewan Hansard from May 16, 2002 refers to him having been the parish priest at St. Nicholas Romanian Orthodox Church in Regina for the previous 30 years.

The website for the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America lists Turcoane as retired.

The complainant, now in her 60s, reported the alleged assaults to the RCMP on March 16, 2022, according to an RCMP media release sent out Thursday that said she was 11 and 12 years old when they occurred.

In a phone interview, Cpl. Brett Church of the Russell RCMP detachment said Turcoane will make his first court appearance in Russell on Aug. 28.

He said the delay between the report and the charges being laid was due to the length of the investigation as well as a review by a Crown attorney.

“(The complainant) was very emotional,” Church said of the initial interview.

“A lot of bad memories came back that might have even been forgotten. We interviewed her, she gave us some witness names and other possible victims. We’ve been chasing interviews with people throughout the country, from the Maritimes all the way to B.C.,” he said.

“We’ve also had to get search warrants from Toronto for the HQ of this church. It’s not easy for them to give information because there’s a lot of privacy matters.”

Church said the Criminal Code no longer refers to the offences in question as rape and sexual intercourse with someone under 14, but that’s how they were referred to when the alleged assaults occurred.

He said the complainant didn’t come forward earlier out of fear that she wouldn’t be believed.

“I think it’s a lot easier now for people that come forward,” Church said. “There’s a lot more aid, a lot more agencies and everything that will support her.”

As for why the arrest was announced more than a month and a half after it happened, Church said someone in Regina reached out to media there and after the RCMP started to get questions, the decision was made to put out the release.

Also factoring in the decision to put out the release was the hope that other potential survivors might come forward, despite the time that has elapsed.

“Some of these people and witnesses are now deceased, so we’ve had a difficult time,” Church said. “Hopefully with this press release, people are going to see it on the TV, in the media, on the news, on the internet and we’ve asked them to call us.”

Anyone else with information or personal experiences to disclose can call the Russell RCMP detachment at 204-773-2675.

The Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America did not respond to a request for comment.

A number listed under Turcoane’s profile on the Orthodox Church in America’s website directed the caller to a voicemail box that requests a password. That profile was live on Thursday morning but had been removed by the afternoon.

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