Des Plaines police investigating abuse allegations against suburban priest
Des Plaines police are investigating separate allegations of sexual misconduct levied against a priest who formerly worked in the city.
The announcement of the police investigation Tuesday into the Rev. David F. Ryan comes less than two weeks after the Archdiocese of Chicago revealed Ryan had stepped away from his work at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Lake Zurich because of the allegations.
Both events reportedly occurred while Ryan, 71, worked at Maryville Academy, a residential facility in Des Plaines for children dealing with a variety of issues. The first reportedly occurred in the mid-1980s, police said, and the second in 2002 or 2003.
Both complainants said Ryan groped them when they lived at Maryville.
The allegations aren't the first against Ryan. Others were levied against him in 2020 and again in 2021. Both times he left parish service but was reinstated after the allegations were deemed unfounded.