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Archives > Volume 9 Issue 29 - July 20, 2011 Pope Accepts Philadelphia Archbishop's Resignation...But the Cardinal has been under pressure for his handling of the sex-abuse scandal. In his eight-year tenure,  a pair of grand jury reports, one in 2005 and one released in February, ( see vol9_iss7) have rocked the archdiocese by accusing church officials of covering up abuse allegations against priests. Fox News story here
February's scathing report resulted in unprecedented criminal charges against a former secretary of clergy for allegedly transferring pedophile priests without warning new parishes. The grand jury accused church officials of keeping 37 clergy in active ministry despite credible claims that they had sexually abused young people. The allegations came nine years after U.S. bishops promised at the height of the clergy abuse crisis to oust all predators from ministry. A onetime archdiocesan administrator in Philadelphia, Monsignor William Lynn, was charged with child endangerment for allegedly leaving the accused clerics in church jobs without warning parents or police. Lynn, the highest-ranking U.S. church official criminally charged with sheltering abusers, says he is innocent. Two other priests and a former priest are also charged. Rigali responded to the report by suspending 23 priests and hired two former city prosecutors to review abuse cases. Ana Maria Catanzaro, head of the local Philadelphia review board, which helps the archdiocese evaluate abuse claims, said Philadelphia church officials had kept some cases from the panel and had "failed miserably at being open and transparent." Victim advocates claimed that Rigali delegated much of the responsibility for child protection to others and offered little support to victims. Rigali, who usually shuns publicity, also had to deal with fallout from a 2005 local grand jury report that claimed his predecessors, including immediate predecessor Anthony Bevilacqua, hid abuse by priests for decades and failed to notify authorities of the crimes. But the Cardinal has been under pressure for his handling of the sex-abuse scandal. In his eight-year tenure, a pair of grand jury reports, one in 2005 and one released in February, have rocked the archdiocese by accusing church officials of covering up abuse allegations against priests. February's scathing report resulted in unprecedented criminal charges against a former secretary of clergy for allegedly transferring pedophile priests without warning new parishes. The grand jury accused church officials of keeping 37 clergy in active ministry despite credible claims that they had sexually abused young people. The allegations came nine years after U.S. bishops promised at the height of the clergy abuse crisis to oust all predators from ministry. A onetime archdiocesan administrator in Philadelphia, Monsignor William Lynn, was charged with child endangerment for allegedly leaving the accused clerics in church jobs without warning parents or police. Lynn, the highest-ranking U.S. church official criminally charged with sheltering abusers, says he is innocent. Two other priests and a former priest are also charged. Rigali responded to the report by suspending 23 priests and hired two former city prosecutors to review abuse cases. Ana Maria Catanzaro, head of the local Philadelphia review board, which helps the archdiocese evaluate abuse claims, said Philadelphia church officials had kept some cases from the panel and had "failed miserably at being open and transparent." Victim advocates claimed that Rigali delegated much of the responsibility for child protection to others and offered little support to victims. Rigali, who usually shuns publicity, also had to deal with fallout from a 2005 local grand jury report that claimed his predecessors, including immediate predecessor Anthony Bevilacqua, hid abuse by priests for decades and failed to notify authorities of the crimes. If you or someone you love is a victim of clergy abuse, visit eGuide.org/ClergyAbuse. Authorities release chilling videos taken by Dugard captors... Officers' repeated visits to the home of a sex offender even as he held Jaycee Lee Dugard captive in his backyard are a concern and embarrassment for California parole officials.  AP story from MSNBC here Now, a newly released video is adding salt to the wound.
The videos recorded by Dugard's abductors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, also provide chilling details about the two and their outings to stealthily shoot footage of young girls frolicking. The video of a parole officer's visit shows yet again how the state botched chances to find Dugard as she was kept hidden for 18 years in the backyard of the couple's Antioch home. Throughout the years, parole officers had paid dozens of visits to the home to check on Phillip Garrido and give him drug tests, but none of the officials reported any irregularities. Three video clips were among several pieces of evidence released Tuesday by El Dorado County prosecutors "to highlight the gravity and severity of the mistakes made," and to improve the supervision and detection of sexual predators. The footage was recovered from videotapes found in trash in the Garridos' backyard. They had apparently tried to destroy many of the tapes with chemicals. But investigators, with the help of NASA technicians, were able to recover footage from the damaged tapes. Still photos of the partially destroyed tapes were included in the released evidence. "The criminal justice system had some significant failures," District Attorney Vern Pierson told The Associated Press. "It's important to reevaluate what has happened and look at what has changed since then and ask if there's more that needs to be done." Last week, Jaycee Dugard talked about her ordeal for the first time with Dianne Sawyer. (see vol9_iss28) For a complete list of our 2009 coverage of Jaycee Dugard's ordeal, visit vol7_iss77. In other news... A California private school has been deserted and closed by the state as police investigate allegations that its principal inappropriately touched young girls for years and that at least one  staff member was aware of activities but failed to tell authorities. AP story here A complaint filed by the Department of Social Services stated that several female students said they had been touched by Robert B. Adams, principal and founder of Creative Frontiers School in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights. "On numerous occasions, respondent Adams touched female children's bodies under their shirts and down their pants," the complaint said. It went on to say that Adams - whom students referred to as "Mr. Bob" - also would "seclude female children under a computer desk and lie down with them on a mat in his office." The campus was empty Tuesday, with a sign posted on the office saying the school had been closed by the state.
The family of a 3-year-old Florida girl is outraged after a judge awarded custody to the child's legal father, who is a registered sex offender, WJXX-TV reports. Fox News story here Trista Crews Coleman, the child's mother, reportedly died in a car accident a month after her daughter, Miranda Wilkerson, was born. Earlier this month, a judge gave custody to the child's father, Donald Coleman, a registered sex offender who impregnated Trista Crews Coleman in 1997 when he was 38 and she was 14 years old. A Brooklyn man reportedly told police that he spent more than 12 hours with a young Orthodox Jewish boy -- including taking him to a wedding just outside New York City -- before  smothering and dismembering him in a panic. CBS News story here Levi Aron, 35, detailed the time he spent with Leiby Kletzky, 8, and allegedly confessed to killing the boy in a 450-word statement obtained by WNBC-TV, NBC News reports. I understand this may be wrong and I'm sorry for the hurt that I have caused," Aron told police, according to NBC News. Kletzky was walking home alone from day camp for the first time Monday and disappeared while on his way to meet his mother on a street corner seven blocks away. Authorities said he had evidently gotten lost after missing a turn, and had reached out to Aron, a stranger, for help. For more on this story see vol9_iss28M.
Child pornography isn't just more pervasive, it's getting even uglier. Dailyrecord.com story here Federal prosecutors here say they have witnessed the disturbing trend with the kids getting younger - toddlers and infants as young as 6 months old - turning up in photos and videos. And the assaults are getting worse. It's not just still images of children in the nude, they say. "There's a misconception in the public arena that these are mainly still images of children without clothes on. Well, the truth is that the majority of the pictures that are traded among these guys almost inevitably involve a child being either raped, or being forced to perform some type of sexual act on an adult or child," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Mulcahy, chief of the general crimes unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit. *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" |
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