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Testifying about a sexual abuse case that originated when he was the leader of an Illinois diocese, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers said a complaint from a woman who said she was abused never came across his desk, and he blamed a “slipshod filing system” and a high-level official who apparently handled the matter on his own. In a lengthy 2010 deposition, Myers, who was the bishop of the Peoria Diocese for about a decade, said he never suspected that Monsignor Thomas W. Maloney was molesting children. A woman told the diocese’s vicar general in 1995 that the priest abused her as a child. But t…

(Newark, NJ) – As part of a sexual abuse settlement in the Diocese of Peoria, the previously sealed deposition of Archbishop John J. Myers was released today along with information and documents pertaining to the sexual abuse of a Normal, Illinois altar boy by Msgr. Thomas Maloney at Epiphany Church in 1995-1996.

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Media AdvisoryAugust 12, 2013 Newark News Conference Tuesday, August 13 Illinois family to speak out on current Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ failure to protect their son from sexual abuse while working as Bishop in Peoria St. Paul Attorney to announce $1.35 million settlement in the case and release Myers’ deposition WHAT:  At a news conference on Tuesday in Newark, New Jersey, prominent clergy abuse attorney Jeff Anderson will:  • Announce the settlement of a child sexual abuse case for $1.35 million involving the Diocese of Peoria, former Peoria Bishop and current Arch…

 A dozen former Yeshiva University High School students have joined a bombshell $380 million lawsuit, claiming they were molested by staffers, an attorney for the plaintiffs said Tuesday. The number of alleged victims in the suit against the prestigious Manhattan school now stands at 31 — up from the initial 19, said attorney Kevin Mulhearn.  Former students said in the initial claim filed last month that officials covered up decades of sexual abuse by Rabbi George Finkelstein, the school’s former principal, and Rabbi Macy Gordon, a former Judaic studies teacher. The accusers come …

 Not all Catholic priests who abuse minors escape justice. A California superior court judge sentenced Father Uriel Ojeda, 33, to eight years in state prison on Friday for molesting a teenage girl multiple times. “My actions were those of a weak and sinful man,” Ojeda said in court. Ojeda pleaded no contest to sneaking into the young girl’s bedroom at her parents’ Sacramento home on the night he was ordained and climbing into bed with her as she slept. “You traumatized me,” the girl told him in a letter that was read in court by Deputy District Attorney Allison Dunham. “And you th…

Three former Penn State University officials, including ousted former president Graham Spanier, were ordered to stand trial Tuesday on criminal charges related to an alleged cover-up that temporarily shielded convicted child predator and former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky from law enforcement scrutiny. Following two days of testimony, a Pennsylvania judge ordered Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former university vice president Gary Schultz to face perjury, conspiracy, failure to report suspected child abuse and other related charges in a decision that opens…

In a major victory for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, a federal judge ruled that funds set aside for cemetery operations cannot be tapped to pay sex abuse settlements in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case. U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa ruled that taking even a portion of the funds would violate the archdiocese’s free exercise of religion under the First Amendment. Randa issued the decision Monday in a lawsuit filed by the archdiocese to keep its cemetery trust from being tapped to pay sex abuse settlements in the bankruptcy. The ruling was made public Tuesday. Randa’s decision overturn…

At a news conference on Monday in Rochester, prominent St. Paul-based sexual abuse attorney Jeff Anderson announced the filing of civil lawsuits on behalf of two former Rochester residents who allege they were sexually abused by a Boy Scout Leader in the 1970’s.