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Supreme Court denies former priest Janssen’s motion

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By Ann McGlynn | Friday, January 11, 2008 |

A request for the Iowa Supreme Court to review a contempt of court order that sent a defrocked priest to jail has been denied.

James Janssen, 86, reported to the Scott County Jail on Wednesday to begin serving a 180-day sentence. His attorney had asked the Iowa Supreme Court to review the matter in December after Chief Judge Bobbi Alpers found Janssen in contempt for not producing $80,000 in missing savings bonds. The bonds were to be put toward a $1.4 million civil judgment against Janssen for sexually abusing his nephew, James Wells.

While Alpers ordered Janssen to jail, District Judge Mary Howes, in a separate lawsuit filed by Wells against Dorothy Janssen, found that she helped James Janssen hide his assets when he faced several civil lawsuits alleging sex abuse. Dorothy Janssen is James Janssen’s sister.

At issue was $712,000 worth of savings bonds cashed by the Janssens, beginning the day after the Quad-City Times published an article about the first lawsuit in May 2003.

Dorothy Janssen was ordered to pay Wells $255,607, turn over ownership of her home within 45 days and relinquish her car, $102,500 in bonds and a $10,000 Treasury Direct within 30 days. All are to go to Wells. All told, the judgment is worth $550,000.