The Child Protection eNewsletter

Spokane Diocese emerges from bankruptcy…

The Catholic Diocese of Spokane has emerged from bankruptcy 2 1/2 years after filing for Chapter 11 protection because of sex abuse cases.  Read More Here  Now, Bishop William Skylstad and parishioners must raise $48 million to settle victims' claims.

"This is the end of a difficult chapter for the diocese and the start of a new day for it," diocese bankruptcy lawyer Greg Arpin said.  "We're very pleased to come out of this tragic and difficult period, and looking forward to a new life for the Catholic Church in Eastern Washington."

Skylstad, president of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had no immediate comment, said the Reverend Steven Dublinski, a diocesan spokesman.

Paperwork certifying that the 95,000-member diocese had complied with requirements set forth in a bankruptcy reorganization plan was e-mailed to lawyers, effectively marking the end of bankruptcy, Arpin said.  He said the next step was to pay for the plan, which calls for dividing the $48 million among about 175 people who claimed they were sexually abused in the past by diocese clergy.  The majority of claims involve sexual molestation of boys by priests, about nine of whom have been publicly identified.  The court had previously rejected a bankruptcy plan that provided $47 million in compensation to just 75 victims.  vol4_iss23

Among the claimants is a woman who said she was sexually abused by Skylstad in the early 1960s.  vol4_iss12  Skylstad has denied violating his vow of chastity and said an investigator hired by his lawyer found no credence in the woman's story.  Shawn Cross, another bankruptcy lawyer hired by the diocese, said he had no specifics on that claim, except that it "is not one of the ones rejected to date.  It is going through the process."

About 35 victims who reached settlements with the diocese will receive payments within 45 to 60 days, while the remainder will begin receiving them by the end of the year, Arpin and Cross said.  A blanket claim covers people who come forward in the future.  Victims will receive from $15,000 to $1.5 million each, depending on the severity and length of abuse.  A former U.S. attorney is reviewing each claim to determine how much each person receives.

Insurance settlements of $20 million were forwarded to a bankruptcy trustee on Thursday.  Skylstad is raising $18 million through sales of property and contributions from Catholic entities and loans, while the diocese's 82 parishes are raising $10 million.  Cross said nearly $24 million has been raised so far.

The Spokane Diocese is the smallest and poorest of five nationwide that have sought bankruptcy protection against clergy sex abuse lawsuits.  The others are San Diego; Davenport, Iowa; Portland, Oregon; and Tucson, Arizona.  Tucson has emerged from bankruptcy protection, while Portland's reorganization plan also has been approved.

Kansas teen abduction caught on video… 

A surveillance video shows a missing 18-year-old being forced into her car at a Target store where she had stopped for an errand over the weekend, police said.  Read More Here  Kelsey Smith, who graduated from high school less than two weeks ago, left the store Saturday evening and put packages into her car when someone ran toward her, police said.

"As she opened the driver's side door, the individual sprinted up behind her and pushed her into the car," Police Captain Tom Fredrickson said.

Police were working to enhance the quality of the video, which has not been released because it is so poor, Detective Matthew Bregel said.  Overland Park police did release another video of Smith walking into and out of Target and of a man they called a "person of interest," Detective Bob Miller said.  Police had received several tips and Miller said he was confident police would identify the person of interest.

In other news… 

A former South Carolina elementary school teacher pleaded guilty to having sex with an 11-year-old student and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a prosecutor said.  Read More Here  Wendie Ann Schweikert, 37, was arrested in May 2006 and charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor and committing a lewd act on a minor.  The case inflamed racial tensions because the student is black, and some black residents had argued that the teacher was getting lenient treatment by the courts.

Former Waterbury, Connecticut Mayor Philip Giordano, already serving a 37-year federal prison sentence for having sex with children, pleaded no contest Tuesday to state child-sex charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.  Read More Here  Under a plea deal with state prosecutors, Giordano entered pleas to four counts of first-degree sexual assault and four counts of conspiracy to commit sexual assault.  His state prison sentence will run concurrent to his federal sentence.

An 82-year-old Morgantown, Pennsylvania man was sentenced to at least five years in state prison for a string of sexual assaults on a four-year-old child 20 years ago.  Read More Here  Edward William Rawlings was sentenced in Lancaster County Court by Judge Paul K. Allison for the assaults, which occurred in Caernarvon Township between January 1984 and January 1988.  Rawlings wasn't charged with the crimes until March 2006.  He pleaded guilty this past March and has been in prison since then.

A New Jersey woman accused of killing of her 4-year-old son, whose body was dumped and remained unidentified for more than a decade, has reached a plea agreement that drops her murder charge, prosecutors said.  Read More Here  Alicia Robinson, 34, pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension or prosecution and faces five years in state prison as part of the deal.  She must cooperate in the prosecution of her husband, who still faces a murder charge, and may have to testify at this trial.

Investigators this week charged a 24-year-old York County, Pennsylvania woman with having a four-month sexual relationship with a 12-year-old Columbia boy.  Read More Here  The boy's mother allegedly arranged the sexual encounters between Ashley Laurie Banks and her son at the family's Columbia home, court documents say.  The victim first told a counselor at Lancaster County Children and Youth agency in September about the encounters with Banks, a police affidavit states.  The boy told the counselor "he was being prostituted out by his mother," police say in the affidavit.

A former Arlington County youth sports coach who once headed the Virginia ACLU pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that he purchased child pornography so graphic that prosecutors called it "sadistic."  Read More Here Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, admitted that he accessed more than 850 pornographic images of children as young as 4, including a six-minute video depicting the sexual torture of children set to a song by the band Nine Inch Nails.  Authorities said Rust-Tierney used a computer in his 10-year-old son's bedroom to view the files, some of which were contained on CDs bearing an American flag logo.

A paroled Oklahoma murderer who has evaded charges linked to the molestation of three children for more than 20 years has been captured in Mississippi and brought to the Tulsa Jail.  Read More Here  Gary Lee Reece, now 53, has been wanted since 1986 on three counts of lewd molestation, two counts of forcible sodomy and one count of injury to a minor child.

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