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WMAR interviewed gynecologist featured in 'The Keepers' in 1994

Posted at 11:50 AM, May 30, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-30 11:57:06-04

In addition to the allegations against Father Joseph Maskell, several of the women interviewed in "The Keepers" also say they were abused by a local gynecologist, Dr. Christian Richter.

At one point in episode four of the documentary, Teresa Lancaster -- who in 1994 sued Dr. Richter, Father Maskell and the Archdiocese under the name "Jane Roe" -- is seen viewing a VHS tape of a news clip from an interview with Dr. Richter.

The story Lancaster was viewing was from WMAR's news broadcast on August 25, 1994; it focuses on the filing of the lawsuit by Lancaster and Jean Hargadon Wehner, who at the time identified herself only as Jane Doe.

She says Father Maskell took her to the doctor's office "on several occasions," and Maskell raped her in the examination room while Dr. Richter was in the room.

In the interview, the doctor admits that he knew Father Maskell.  Maskell died in 2001; Richter died in 2006.

Here is the text of the 1994 story, filed by former WMAR reporter Deborah Sherman.  The video, including the interview with Dr. Richter, is attached to this story:
 

Six defendants are named in the lawsuit, with the alleged victims staying anonymous, calling themselves Jane Roe and Jane Doe.

Both claim they were teenagers at the all-girls Archbishop Keough catholic high school, when Father Maskell allegedly coerced them into performing perverted sexual acts in his rectory, office, bathroom and basement.

The specific charges are too graphic to mention, but Jane Doe also accuses the priest of rape, putting a gun in her mouth, hitting her, and forcing her to have sex with a police officer, who is not named in the lawsuit.

The other alleged victim, Jane Roe, claims the same things happened to her. Plus she claims Father Maskell took her to a local gynecologist, Dr. Christian Richter, where she alleges, during several exams they both raped her.

Dr. Richter is retired today and living in Towson. We asked him about the charges.

"I'm not involved in this, really.  I'm totally innocent of anything that they're accusing me of."

Sherman: "Did you know Father Maskell?

Richter:  "25 years ago, that's all"

Dr. Richter says he's embarrassed by what he calls the false allegations, and promises to fight them in court.

"I don't even know what to tell my friends. It's an embarrassment for me, but that's it."

 

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