Ordained: 1978
Status: Convicted
Died: 09/15/2002
Diocese: Diocese of La Crosse WI
Father Bruce Ball was accused of abusing children in MD and WI. In 1984, the police in WI investigated him and were informed by La Crosse Bishop John Paul. The sherriff did not charge Father Bruce Ball, but told the bishop he should not have contact with children. Ball had supposedly made inappropriate comments to children and invited them to his cabin to sleep over.
He was moved to a different parish but still had contact with children. In 1993, he pleaded no contest to the criminal charge of sexual contact with a 12-year-old boy during a therapy session. There were four known victims, and he was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in 1996 but remained on parole until 1997.
Ball was Laicized at his own request in 1997. The La Crosse diocese told Baltimore of two claims against Ball during the time he was a seminarian for La Crosse in Baltimore in the mid-1970s. Ball died in 2002 and was listed as an accused abuser by both La Crosse and Baltimore. This information was also included in a report by the MD Attorney General in April 2023.