The Child Protection eNewsletter

Bishop to apologize personally to abuse victims…

The Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, one of five U.S. dioceses to file for bankruptcy under the weight of sexual abuse cases, reached a $37 million agreement with the victims and their attorneys. Read More Under the settlement, persons abused, or their relatives can request a letter of apology from the bishop of Davenport, Martin J. Amos.

The deal, hammered out over four days of negotiations in Chicago, will address the claims of 156 victims of abuse who have come forward, with a portion of the money set aside in the event that more victims come forward.

The agreement completes a necessary step for the Davenport diocese, which filed for bankruptcy last year after allegations of abuse against former clergy members, some dating back nearly 70 years. Read More The diocese is expected soon to file a formal plan for reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that will include the settlement agreement.

Bishop Amos said in a statement that the agreement offers "the best opportunity for healing" for victims of clergy abuse. He also said it would allay some uncertainty about the church's financial status and allow the diocese to continue its mission.

Lawyers for victims in the case likewise said they were satisfied with the amount of the settlement. Patrick Noaker said the agreement may offer closure, of sorts, though he cautioned that many larger issues still must be addressed and the settlement doesn't ensure that future perpetrators won't have access to children. "I want to add a caveat," he said. "We are not there yet. The kids still need to be protected."

Church officials expect payments to victims to begin by July 2008. Funding will come from the sale of church properties and the diocese's insurance companies. Many of the diocese's properties have been sold or will go on the market as a result of the agreement.

The diocese also agreed to provide mental health counseling to any known or future abuse survivors and publish the names of all known abusers, and Amos will write personal letters of apology to any victim who wants one.

Also, the Los Angeles Archdiocese wired $500 million to plaintiffs as part of the $660 million it has agreed to settle cases with more than 500 alleged victims of clergy abuse, and a former Catholic priest pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to sexually abusing two boys.

Michael Stephen Baker, 60, was sentenced to 10 years in prison as part of a plea deal. Authorities say Baker molested the boys on multiple occasions between 1994 and 1998, when he was a priest in the Los Angeles area. He was removed from the ministry in 2000.

Meanwhile, the Vatican removed from the priesthood two men who faced credible complaints of sexual abuse of children, the Cleveland Catholic Diocese said. Read More Gary Berthiaume, who was suspended from active ministry in 2002, and J. Brendan McNulty, who was suspended in 2003, had asked to be removed from the clerical state, the diocese said.

Berthiaume transferred to Cleveland after serving six months in a Michigan jail on a sex abuse charge in the 1970s, diocese spokesman Bob Polomsky said. More allegations surfaced when he worked in Cleveland.

McNulty was suspended while serving as pastor of Saints Philip and James Church in Cleveland. The allegations involved sexual abuse of boys from a large churchgoing family in the 1970s.

"We are deeply sorry of the pain suffered by survivors of abuse due to action of some members of the clergy, as nothing is more important than protecting children," the diocese said in announcing the Vatican move.

Duncan pleads guilty to killing Dylan and kidnapping Shasta Groene…

A man who murdered the family of two young siblings, then sexually abused the children before killing one of them at a remote Montana campsite, pleaded guilty to federal charges that could lead to his execution. Read More

Joseph Edward Duncan III did not make a plea deal with prosecutors and earlier pleaded guilty to state charges. He told the judge he wants to take responsibility for his actions. "I will continue to accept that responsibility to the death," he said.

Duncan admitted kidnapping Shasta Groene, then 8, and her 9-year-old brother, Dylan, sexually abusing them and killing the boy. Shasta was rescued about seven weeks after the 2005 abduction when people spotted Duncan and the child at a restaurant. (See Volume 3, Issue 42 and Volume 3, Issue 43)

Duncan's guilty pleas to 10 federal felonies mean that Shasta Groene will be spared having to testify at a trial. "For my family, we're happy," Shasta's father, Steve Groene, said by telephone. "She does not have to testify in this phase of this."

Duncan earlier pleaded guilty in state court to kidnapping and murdering other members of the Groene family at their home in May 2005. Shasta and Dylan's mother, Brenda Groene; her fiancé, Mark McKenzie; and her 13-year-old son, Slade Groene, were bound and bludgeoned to death with a hammer.

Duncan was sentenced to life in prison without parole for kidnapping the three older victims. The death penalty remains a possibility for the state murder counts; the judge deferred imposing punishment on those counts to give federal prosecutors time to pursue their case, which is centered on events in Montana after the children were abducted.

In other news…

A 22-year-old woman fatally stabbed her two young children in a convenience store bathroom, police said. Read More

A worker at Food Mart told police she saw Jeanette Michelle Hawes enter the restroom with the two children, a boy and girl, and then heard a scream, Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength said. The worker called 911, and when deputies arrived they forced the door open and found Hawes on the floor, holding a steak knife and covered in the children's blood, Strength said. Jordon Hawes, 1, and Shakayla Hawes, 3, were pronounced dead upon arrival at the Medical College of Georgia Hospital. Both died of stab wounds to the chest, Chief Deputy Coroner Mark Bowen said.

A man who claims he was one of Dr. George Reardon's many child sexual abuse victims sued St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center on Monday, saying the hospital failed to protect him from the doctor. Read More The plaintiff, listed in the lawsuit as John Doe No. 1, claims the hospital knew, or should have known, that Reardon "had a propensity to sexually batter minors" but failed to do anything to stop the abuse. The filing in Hartford Superior Court came nearly a week after West Hartford police announced that a huge collection of child pornography was found in a hidden storage space in Reardon's former home earlier this year. The cache included 50,000 35mm slides and more than 100 8mm movie reels. (See Volume 5, Issue 78) Police believe Reardon, who practiced at St. Francis for more than 30 years before his death in 1998, may have victimized hundreds of children beginning in the 1950s. Authorities have launched a public campaign to find victims, and they say nearly 80 have come forward so far.

MSNBC news has a video undercover story on the sex slave trade in the United States at Read More. In just 2 years, the Houston field office of the FBI has interviewed over 100 women who say they were virtual prisoners. The FBI estimates that well over 100,000 children and young women are trafficked in America today. (See Volume 4, Issue 7) They range in age from 9 to 19, with the average age being 11. For more on the Administration’s continuing war on trafficking in persons, we suggest you visit http://www.state.gov/g/tip/.

A Fort Lauderdale man met a 14-year-old Polk County girl on MySpace.com and sexually battered her several times since last summer, Polk County deputies say. Read More Deputies arrested Richard Roland Gagnon Jr., 39, Saturday. Investigators said Gagnon told deputies he met the girl on MySpace and later had e-mail exchanges with her and spoke with her on a cell phone, a sheriff's office release says. The two met five times, officials said. Gagnon took the girl to local motels four times and committed lewd acts during several of those encounters, the sheriff's office said. The other time, they went to her friend's house, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers said. Gagnon told deputies he knew she was 14, deputies said.

The St. Charles County, Missouri prosecutor says he will NOT file criminal charges in the case of the teenage girl who committed suicide after being bullied on the Internet. Read More County Prosecutor Jack Banas announced his decision at a news conference in the case of Megan Meier, 13, from Dardenne Prairie who hanged herself last year. Her parents said her suicide was the result of harassment via her MySpace web page.

A former aide to a U.S. senator is in federal custody after being arrested on a charge of attempting to sexually exploit a minor. Read More James Michael McHaney was fired Friday from his job as a scheduler for Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a Washington state Democrat, hours after he was arrested by FBI agents. The FBI said in a charging document that McHaney allegedly tried to set up a meeting with an undercover witness posing online as a teenage boy. According to court papers, McHaney, known as Mike, tried to arrange a lunchtime meeting with an unidentified person posing as a 13-year-old boy. When the witness asked whether McHaney was interested in sex with a 13-year-old, McHaney allegedly replied, "I'll be there," the court papers said. He later asked for a photo of the child.

Though Facebook last week tweaked its Beacon advertising program to prevent the unintended display of private information, the company still receives personal information about users from Beacon partners without their consent, according to an investigation by a Computer Associates research team. Read More "Facebook is collecting information about user actions on affiliate sites regardless of whether or not the user chose to opt out, and regardless of whether or not the user is logged into Facebook at that time," Stefan Berteau, a research Engineer with CA's PestPatrol Spyware Research team, wrote in a blog post. Facebook confirmed the practice.

*for access to member only sites like the New York Times, use the ID "JohnDoeID" and the password "whatever". On sites asking for an email address, feel free to use "info@childprotectionprogram.org"