A former Wyoming Catholic youth minister and teacher in Casper sexually assaulted three boys while they took part in youth programs facilitated by a local church and the Diocese of Cheyenne, a lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges.
The civil complaint alleges that then-Wyoming Catholic youth minister Doug Hudson sexually assaulted the three boys in the 1990s. The complaint also lists the Diocese of Cheyenne, which oversees parishes throughout Wyoming, and Our Lady of Fatima Church in Casper as defendants, stating that they failed to “supervise and control” Hudson and protect the plaintiffs, which allowed for the alleged sexual assaults to occur.
A spokesperson for the diocese declined to comment on the lawsuit until diocesan officials have consulted with legal counsel. He said in an email to WyoFile that the diocese plans to respond publicly to the allegations “in the near future.”
WyoFile attempted to contact Hudson through multiple phone numbers listed online under his name and through other people. Some calls were disconnected. WyoFile left voice messages at two numbers. A reporter called another, but the person who answered hung up when the reporter asked if the number belonged to Hudson. Other people that WyoFile asked didn’t have Hudson’s contact information or declined to share it.
Hudson’s court summons lists a North Carolina address, although WyoFile found records that appear to show a person with his name moved from North Carolina to Kentucky in 2024.
The allegations
As minors, the plaintiffs had taken part in Our Lady of Fatima Church’s youth programs, where Hudson worked as a youth minister under the Diocese of Cheyenne, the complaint states. All three allege that Hudson sexually assaulted them during one of these programs.
The Diocese of Cheyenne and Our Lady of Fatima Church provided Hudson with housing on its Casper campus for conducting youth activities and services. Two of Hudson’s accusers say he assaulted them at that home, the complaint states.
Plaintiffs allege that the Diocese of Cheyenne and Our Lady of Fatima Church knew Hudson was inviting minors to his house on campus. They also believe the diocese and the church were aware that Hudson had organized at least one off-campus overnight trip for youth activities and services.
At the time, Hudson was supervised by Father Pietro Philip Colibraro, the lawsuit states. The Diocese of Cheyenne acknowledged a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse, reported in 2005, against Colibraro that involved an adolescent male. Colibraro, who died in 2017, became co-pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in 1990, then sole pastor of the church in 1997. He stayed there until his retirement in 2001.
According to the complaint, Colibraro was warned that Hudson was “plying adolescent males with alcohol.” The lawsuit doesn’t say who warned Colibraro or how this information came to light.
The lawsuit alleges Hudson sexually assaulted plaintiffs Anthony Jacobson and Ryan Axlund in 1995 and 1997, respectively, at the house provided by the Diocese of Cheyenne and the church. At the time, they were both minors.
According to the complaint, Hudson had “plied” each of them “with copious amounts of alcohol, including Southern Comfort” and assaulted them when they were intoxicated. Both “passed out from the alcohol intoxication,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint alleges Hudson sexually assaulted another plaintiff, James Stress, in 1996 or 1997 at a hotel during an off-campus overnight trip. According to the complaint, Hudson was assigned through the church’s youth ministry to be Stress’ personal counselor. The minister was also Stress’ teacher at Saint Anthony Tri-Parish Catholic School.
At the hotel, Hudson gave Stress “copious amounts of alcohol” and sexually assaulted him while he was intoxicated, according to the lawsuit. Stress eventually blacked out, the document states.
The complaint seeks damages of at least $50,000 per plaintiff to pay for their “bodily injury,” including past and future medical expenses and “mental pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.”
Statute of limitations
While allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic leaders have occurred across the country, prosecutors in many states have run out of time to press charges.
Wyoming, however, is one of a handful of states that doesn’t have a statute of limitations for child sexual abuse crimes, meaning criminal charges can be brought at any time in the future. For civil litigation, like the case against Hudson, accusers can file a complaint within eight years after a minor turns 18, or within three years after the “discovery” of injury caused by childhood sexual abuse, whichever is later.
While he didn’t speak specifically about his clients, Dallas Laird, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said that sometimes people “don’t discover what happened to them until they wonder why their life has gone the way it has, and they go to therapy.”
The lawsuit states that Jacobson and Axlund discovered in March 2024 and Stress discovered in April 2024 that Hudson had allegedly sexually assaulted them. It does not provide additional details about those discoveries.
According to Laird, one of the plaintiffs made a complaint to Casper police “when he found out what he thought happened to him.” A spokesperson for the Casper Police Department didn’t confirm or deny this, stating in an email that Wyoming law bars the department “from disclosing any information that may reasonably identify a victim or suspect in a sexual assault investigation until that investigation has been formally filed in district court.”
Laird, who lives in Casper, said he had never talked with Hudson before. “But I hope to be able to take his deposition at some point,” he added. Two Cheyenne attorneys, James and Michael Fitzgerald, are also representing the plaintiffs.
Laird said he advised his clients not to speak with the press.
The new allegations add to a list of abuse accusations against Catholic leaders and staff in Wyoming, perhaps the most infamous being former Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart, who faced multiple sexual abuse allegations found credible by the Diocese of Cheyenne. People first came forward with allegations of abuse in 1989, but Hart, who died in 2023, steadfastly maintained his innocence, and a Vatican investigation later exonerated him of multiple allegations.
Meanwhile, Wyoming’s current bishop, Steven Biegler, announced in 2018 that an examination initiated by the diocese and conducted by an outside investigator concluded Hart sexually abused two boys in Wyoming. A month later, the diocese reported a third abuse allegation against Hart that it deemed credible.
There are currently 12 individuals with substantiated allegations of abuse against them listed on the Diocese of Cheyenne’s website.
WyoFile editors Tennessee Watson and Joshua Wolfson contributed reporting.
There was a culture of this behavior at the Cheyenne Diocese. It is the responsibility of the Wyoming Catholic Church to openly and transparently investigate all allegations, and seek out those that have been either afraid or ashamed to come forward.
If it’s true, It doesn’t surprise me at all. Where’s the best place for an abuser to hide? The ‘church’ will do its best to hide and obfuscate the truth. And yes, this sort of crime is rampant in many churches.
Meanwhile, the church will try to make you live by their so called ‘morals’.
I have had a lot of respect for Wyo-file, till today. For your headline to say Clergy, is simply, misleading. A youth minister is part of the laity. It’s bad enough without exaggeration.
As I read your article I learned that Wyoming State has no criminal statute of limitations, which requires the highest burden of proof, yet the civil statute is only 8 years beyond the age of 18. That means a substantiated victim of abuse could help put his/her abuser in jail but possible not recover damages for the crime committed against him/her. I saw this very same scenario played out in my home state until the law was changed. Allowing past victims for which the Statute of Limitations had already past, to now have legal access to civil court. I urge Wyoming lawmakers to seriously work to revise their state law to extend or eliminate SOL’s for the sexual abuse of a child and adult. That very action will also make Wyoming a safer state, allowing sexual predators to be exposed. I worked hard in New Jersey and other states to make such changes as I too along with my younger brothers were abused by a member of the clergy as a young child. Stop giving such institutions a pass as only such a change will force them to act responsibly. I was first abused by my parish priest when he took me on a trip from New Jersey to several states in the west. Predators don’t have to be from Wyoming to abuse children there. Which Wyoming lawmaker will take up this issue to protect and restore justice to all sexual abuse victims making Wyoming a safer state for children? I am Mark Crawford, New Jersey SNAP leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. I applaud the courage of all the victims who have found the voice to seek justice, accountability and change!
The comment I have is there are many more cases out there that will never be acknowledged or prosecuted. I know of an individual who died recently who had tried to have his case heard and verified. He gave names of those with knowledge, the period of time as in what year(s) it occurred and where. I personally know he was not lying. He talked about it decades ago. Known him a very long time. The response he rec’d from Cheyenne Dioceses was that they had no other complaints about that priest and they were unable to locate his witnesses. No matter as he is deceased now. He was never after money. He just wanted to have what happened to him recognized and the priest shamed. That’s it. Not a great deal to ask for. I am sure there are many who never came forward and are gone now and others that did and were not given any satisfaction.
Youth ministers and priests and deacons were all guilty.
And you get mad about this, let me remind you in the non-catholuc world or religions it remains a serious issue with children being abused sexually. Many of those ministers are guilty also and slowly the abuse is coming to light.
But will it ever end?