Former Episcopal priest and foster parent Donald Shissler was ordered Thursday to stand trial after an investigator testified that a boy now 14 told authorities that Shissler molested him more than 100 times between the ages of 6 and 11.
Denver prosecutors believe that over a 50-year period, Shissler, now 72, molested many young boys who were lured to his Denver home by promises of candy bars, games, a hot tub, a computer and television.
Lorri Brovsky, an investigator for the Denver DA’s office, testified that she has been on the Shissler case for about three years. During that time, she said, Denver police and the DA’s office recovered 250 pornographic photographs from Shissler’s home involving nude boys.
Approximately 15 photographs, taken in Shissler’s home, showed the alleged victim naked, Brovsky said.
The 14-year-old told Brovsky that he was introduced to Shissler when he was 6 and was assaulted for the next five years.
“He said Donald Shissler was messing with his privates all the time,” Brovsky testified. The assaults purportedly occurred between 1997 and 2002.
Jason Young, Shissler’s lawyer, asked county Judge Alfred Harrell to reduce Shissler’s bond from $150,000 to $50,000, saying that Shissler is 72, has lived in Colorado all his life and has family in Denver.
But prosecutor Kerri Lombardi opposed the reduction, saying Shissler faces a potential life sentence and might flee.
Harrell refused to reduce the bond. He said he considers Shissler a danger to the community. He noted that Shissler has portrayed himself as an individual to be trusted – first in the priesthood and then as a foster parent.
Harrell ordered Shissler to stand trial on multiple counts involving sexual assault on a child.
In a 2002 interview with The Denver Post, Shissler denied the allegations and said he had too much love for children to do anything sexual with them.
He said he had been a foster parent to 27 children for 17 years and has an adopted son, now in his 30s.
Shissler was a foster parent from 1985 to 1992, when his license was revoked after he was repeatedly caught “inappropriately dressed,” according to Denver’s Department of Human Services. He served as a vicar of Christ Episcopal Church in Aspen from 1961 to 1963 but said he left the church because he was disillusioned.
Late last year, Denver District Judge Sheila Rappaport threw out Shissler’s guilty pleas to raping two boys, saying he received inadequate legal representation. Prosecutors plan to take Shissler to trial in those two cases.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
