With just weeks to go before a Feb. 1 deadline in its bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is casting a wide net in search of clergy sex abuse victims who might seek to file claims, publishing ads in state and national newspapers and asking its parishes and schools to spread the word. At the same time, victims advocates say, the archdiocese is embarking on a legal strategy that could result in the vast majority of the nearly 200 sex abuse claims filed to date being thrown out of court, leaving those victims ineligible for a financial settlement from the church – and perhaps changing the…
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The death of journalist and polemicist Christopher Hitchens last month gave those familiar with his work a chance to revisit one of his more controversial subjects: the Albanian nun Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better known to the world as Mother Teresa. In his 1997 book, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, Hitchens argued that the “Saint of Calcutta,” who founded and headed the international Missionaries of Charity order, enjoyed undeserved esteem.Despite her humanitarian reputation and 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa had set up a worldwide system of “homes for the …
Stories of child sexual abuse dominated the headlines in 2011, but because the alleged crimes happened so long ago, few of the victims in those cases were able to sue their abusers.
A local priest who was arrested on child pornography charges was allegedly traveling overseas to an area notorious for its sex industry. Sources close to the investigation told the KDKA Investigators that Fr. Bartl Sorensen travelled to Amsterdam several times. This information, along with thousands of new images found in Fr. Sorensen’s bedroom has investigators concerned he may have had sexual contact with children. According to sources, investigators are now looking through thousands of pornographic images found following a search of the rectory at St. John Fisher …
A lawsuit filed against The Citadel on Wednesday seeks a court mandate that would require the military college to report all child sexual abuse complaints or face contempt charges. Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Gregg Meyers filed suit against The Citadel on behalf of the mother of a young man who allegedly was sexually abused by Louis “Skip” ReVille after the school failed to report a complaint about the former cadet. The lawsuit alleges that The Citadel was grossly negligent in not reporting a former summer camper’s claim that ReVille showed young boys porn and masturbated with them at The Ci…
The first suit against The Citadel for the school’s role in the Louis “Skip” ReVille case was filed Wednesday. One of the attorneys, Jeff Anderson, is the same man who’s filed similar suits against Penn State and Syracuse. “Some people think this lawsuit is designed to take The Citadel down, but frankly it’s designed to help them clean it up,” Anderson said. Attorneys say the child did not attend the military college, but claims since The Citadel’s leaders failed to report sexual allegations made about ReVille to law enforcement. Attorneys claim The Citadel is part…
Mr. Anderson said his client hadn’t spoken of the alleged abuse until other
stories were made public through the grand-jury report.
“This kid suffered in secrecy and in silence and shame thinking he was the
only one and never told a soul until the revelations came out about other kids
and a coverup,” Mr. Anderson said. “That’s what caused him to come forward and
break the silence.”
In a statement released by Mr. Anderson, the plaintiff said he had never told
anyone about being abused by Mr. Sandusky “until the newspapers reported that he
had abused other kids.” He said, “I am hu…
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused a boy more than 100 times, then threatened his family to keep him quiet about the encounters, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday that details new accusations not included in criminal charges against Sandusky. The lawsuit is the first in the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal and identifies the plaintiff, now 29 years old, only as John Doe. It claims Sandusky abused the boy from 1992 to 1996 at the coach’s State College home, in a Penn State locker room, on trips to Philadelphia and at a bowl game. T…
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused a young boy more than 100 times after meeting him through the charity he founded, then threatened the boy’s family to keep him quiet about the encounters, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.The lawsuit identifies the plaintiff, an adult, only as John Doe. It claims Sandusky abused the boy at the coach’s State College home, at Penn State facilities and on at least one bowl game trip. The man who filed the lawsuit says he feels tormented after learning others were allegedly abused after him. …
A former student of a popular teacher at a Los Angeles high school filed a sex abuse lawsuit today alleging that the award-winning music instructor sexually molested him over a two year period starting in 1997.
Two days after Jerry Sandusky was arrested and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of minors earlier this month, Pennsylvania attorney general Linda Kelly held a press conference to discuss the ongoing investigation, and at one point urged other victims to come forward to assist with the probe.Thursday night on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” a lawyer representing alleged victims of Sandusky not mentioned in the 23-page grand jury presentment said the disgraced former Penn State defensive coordinator used his “position of trust and power, and his caring ways as a coach and mentor to groom fami…
There may be many more victims in the Penn Sate sex abuse scandal. Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is charged with attacking eight boys over 15 years.CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian has learned Sandusky may have abused more than 18 boys. An attorney representing several of the alleged victims say they told him abuse by Sandusky included rape and molestation. Minn. attorney Jeff Anderson has represented victims of childhood sexual abuse for nearly 30 years, including thousands of victims of pedophile Catholic priests.
(CBS News) Jerry Sandusky’s denials that he sexually abused young boys over the span of years are traumatizing his alleged victims all over again, an attorney representing some of the accusers said. “They’re really suffering despair, confusion and, really, fury because Sandusky and those around him remain free to speak and deny. And every time they do, speak and deny, they are really putting salt in the wounds, they are really putting a dagger in the heart, they are really wounding the soul even further and, in that way, we are really trying to work with these survivors to help them …
For decades, Minneapolis attorney Jeff Anderson has represented alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse. This week, he says he’s seeing some of the same “institutional failures” at Penn State that he says have long plagued the Catholic Church. “We have learned whether it’s the Boy Scouts, Penn State, the Roman Catholic Church, the most trusted institutions everybody seems to give deference to the offenders,” Anderson said on Thursday. “The more powerful the institution, the more perilous it is to the children,” he added. Anderson believes Penn State leaders have their wo…