Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington agreed Wednesday to settle 11 priest sexual abuse lawsuits moments before the trial in one of those cases was set to get under way in federal court in Burlington.The other cases were preparing to go to trial in Chittenden Count Superior Court. The first of those had been scheduled for March.”We settled it,” Burlington lawyer Jerome O’Neill, the lead attorney for the alleged victims in the cases, said Wednesday. “It was a negotiation that had been going on for a long time and the diocese this morning accepted our demand and agreed to pay it…
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LOS ANGELES — The Boy Scouts of America must release two decades of files detailing sexual abuse allegations after the California Supreme Court refused the organization’s bid to keep the records confidential.The decision came after a Santa Barbara County court ruled last year that the files must be turned over to attorneys representing a former Scout who claims a leader molested him in 2007, when he was 13. That leader later was convicted of felony child endangerment.The former Scout’s lawsuit claims the files, which date to 1991 and involve allegations from across the nation, will expose a “c…
A judge’s ruling Monday requiring the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to release thousands of pages of confidential records, including the names of church higher-ups, is an important victory for the public and victims of sexual abuse. The battle over the clergy files has dragged on for far too long. In 2007, the church agreed to settle hundreds of claims against it for $660 million. That deal also required the release of clergy personnel files, which include internal memos, Vatican correspondence and medical records. But the release of the files has been on hold. Last year…
Another victim’s parent is coming forward to tell her daughter’s story. It’s been weeks since we first brought you the story of a popular Bemidji coach and teacher accused of allegedly sexually abusing multiple kindergartners. Now, the mother says, it’s time for something to be done to put the accused behind bars. It’s hard for these mothers to not get emotional; “my daughter is scared,” said one anonymous mother, “she is frightened.” They say their daughters were allegedly abused by their teacher, John Wangberg, abo…
A Superior Court judge has ruled the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles must release the names of high-ranking church officials in 30,000 pages of confidential records about priests accused of abusing children. In making the order Monday, Judge Emilie H. Elias reversed a key part of a 2011 ruling by a retired judge who said he feared including the names of the hierarchy could be used to embarrass the church further. Elias said the public’s right to know how the archdiocese, the largest in the nation, handled molestation allegations outweighed such concerns. She also reversed …
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate gave final legislative approval Thursday to legislation requiring local schools to conduct child abuse awareness education for both teachers and students.The measure, known as Erin’s Law, was cosponsored by state Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon. “This should be a priority… It’s a measure we all should support; it’s an investment in our young people we need to make,” McCarter told colleagues.House Bill 6193 requires schools to provide continuing professional development at in-service training programs on sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention. It …
It’s been almost two years since a Philadelphia grand jury probe of Catholic clergy sex abuse of children resulted in charges against four priests and a teacher. On Monday – after last year’s landmark, three-month trial ended in the first criminal conviction of a church administrator for covering up the crimes of deviate priests – the last two defendants, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and former parochial schoolteacher Bernard Shero, are to go to trial. Prosecutors, defense lawyers, and Common Pleas Court Judge Ellen Ceisler will begin winnowing a large group of candidates down to a ju…
A Colorado man suing the Catholic Diocese of Bismarck for negligence over sexual abuse by a priest who has said he suffered in the 1970s has lifted his anonymity. Colorado resident Steven Crochet, 46, is alleging in civil documents filed in U.S. District Court in Hawaii that he was abused by the Rev. Maurice G. McNeely, who at the time was under the supervision of the Diocese of Bismarck, at an Army base in Hawaii in the mid-1970s. Crochet said he was an alter boy at a Fort Shafter chapel where McNeely ministered to soldiers and families. The complaint claims McNeely forced Crochet to perform …
Just as we think we know what an abuser looks like, we think we know what an abusive religious community looks like. We may think it is highly insular — like the Satmar Hasidic community in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, a prominent member of which was convicted last month of sexually abusing a young girl sent to him for help. Or it is hierarchical and bureaucratic: if the Roman Catholic Church did not have so many bishops and archbishops who refused to dismiss or defrock molesters in their ranks, would so many pedophile priests have been able to carry on for so long? But we don’t …
From the row houses of Milwaukee through the bare ruined choirs of Ireland’s churches, all the way to the highest office of the Vatican, it was an international and systematic conspiracy to silence victims of sexual abuse. MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD, directed by Alex Gibney (HBO’s Oscar-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side”), shows the face of evil that lurks behind the smiles and denials of authority figures and institutions who believe that they can do no wrong, because they stand for good. The shocking documentary debuts MONDAY, FEB. 4 (9:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HB…
Washington (CNN) — An international operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aimed at child pornography and sexual abuse has resulted in the arrest of 245 suspects, officials announced Thursday. All but 23 of the suspects were apprehended in the United States. The agency said that during the course of Operation Sunflower, law enforcement officers identified 123 victims of child exploitation and removed 44 of those children from their alleged abusers with whom they were living. The other cases involved victims who were exploited by people outside their homes or children w…
JEFFERSON CITY — A Missouri task force focused on preventing child sex abuse released nearly two dozen recommendations Thursday that included training, awareness, mental health services and changes to state law. Joy Oesterly, executive director of Missouri KidsFirst and the task force’s leader, said it will take a combination of the ideas to make a significant difference. She said implementing the changes will require cooperation from lawmakers, organizations and others. “Child sexual abuse is a very complex issue, and to think that there is one thing that will solve this problem is unrealist…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say a photo taken at a resort in west-central Minnesota helped them solve a child pornography case and rescue a girl from her abuser. Gene Paulauskas, assistant special agent in charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations in Minneapolis, says agents in Oregon were investigating a case when they came across a photo labeled “Our Minnesota Trip.” The image was sent to agents in Minnesota, who had it distributed among resort owners. The former owner of a resort in Richville identified the property, and investigato…
New York state assemblywoman Margaret Markey has introduced legislation since 2006 that would permit victims of childhood sexual abuse to seek criminal charges and file civil lawsuits until their 28th birthday. But the Queens Democrat said the Poly Prep Country Day School lawsuit and other sex abuse scandals have pushed her to call for a complete end to the criminal and civil statute of limitations when she introduces the Child Victims Act later this month. “As this case demonstrates, adding a few extra years to current law is not enough,” Markey said of the Poly Prep scandal. As the Daily …
Twenty more names have been added to the list of Boy Scout leaders and volunteers accused of sexually assaulting children in Wisconsin over the last several decades. The newest additions, published by the Los Angeles Times last week, involve mostly cases from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Included in the group: a 6-foot 5-inch, 300-plus-pound man known as “Bigfoot,” accused of molesting boys at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis in the early 1970s. Thomas “Bigfoot” Tannehill, who himself was deaf, was never criminally charged in Wisconsin in the 1970s when he was a dorm supervis…