News

Nov 28, 2012: Awareness, enforcement help reduce child sex abuse

NEW YORK — Increased public awareness of how child predators operate, along with better law enforcement and policies to protect children, may be helping to reduce child sex abuse despite this year’s headlines about cases connected to institutions like Penn State, the Boy Scouts and the BBC.A recent report from the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center found incidents of child sexual abuse have been declining in the U.S. for 20 years, with some statistics showing decreases as steep as 60 percent.The findings may be surprising given the high-profile cases in the…

Nov 28, 2012: Faribault Daily News: Former Shattuck teacher accused of sexual misconduct appears in Rice County court

The former Shattuck-St. Mary’s teacher accused of sexual misconduct with a student more than three decades ago was seen in court Wednesday morning, just two days after he posted bail.Joseph Carl Machlitt, 63, arrived at the courthouse Wednesday wearing dress pants, a button-up shirt and v-neck vest — a change from the orange jail jumpsuit he sported a week ago for his arraignment. Court records show Machlitt posted non-cash bail on Monday, the same day attorney Anthony Torres faxed a letter of representation to the court.Torres asked for the hearing — scheduled as an initial appearance — to…

Nov 27, 2012: Wall Street Journal: Teen Takes Stand in Abuse Trial Against Orthodox Leader

After months of anticipation, a 17-year-old girl took the stand in the sexual abuse trial of a respected counselor from an ultra-orthodox Jewish community that authorities say has historically avoided such prosecutions by keeping members quiet.In a packed courtroom filled mostly with her supporters, the teen took the stand against Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed religious counselor in the Satmar community, an ultra-orthodox sect of Judaism.Weberman is accused of sexually abusing the girl dozens of times in his home and office over a three-year span beginning when she was 12 years old. The gir…

Nov 08, 2012: Honolulu men claim sexual abuse by Christian Brother at Damien High School in 1980’s

Working with the Oahu-based law firm of Mark Gallagher, nationally prominent clergy abuse law firm Jeff Anderson& Associates, announced today the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of two Honolulu men who say they were sexually abused in the 1980’s by a Christian Brother employed at Damien Memorial High School in Honolulu.The plaintiffs, identified in the complaint as John Roe 3 an…

Nov 03, 2012: Ex-Penn State president Spanier charged in Sandusky case

 HARRISBURG – Former Pennsylvania State University president Graham B. Spanier lied to grand jurors, ignored investigators’ subpoenas, and ultimately left five young boys to the whims of a sexual predator, state prosecutors charged Thursday as the former administrator became the latest official caught in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.Along with suspended athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz, who are already charged in the case, Spanier exhibited a “callous lack of concern” for Sandusky’s victims and a “definite interest in shielding the man who …

Nov 03, 2012: Ex-Penn State president Spanier charged in Sandusky case

Former Pennsylvania State University president Graham B. Spanier lied to grand jurors, ignored investigators’ subpoenas, and ultimately left five young boys to the whims of a sexual predator, state prosecutors charged Thursday as the former administrator became the latest official caught in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.Along with suspended athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz, who are already charged in the case, Spanier exhibited a “callous lack of concern” for Sandusky’s victims and a “definite interest in shielding …

Nov 02, 2012: Green Bay diocese found negligent in priest molestation civil lawsuit; ordered to pay $500,000

The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay has been ordered to pay a half-million dollars in a civil lawsuit involving a priest accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy.A Las Vegas jury concluded Thursday the diocese was negligent in transferring John Patrick Feeney to a Nevada parish where he allegedly molested the boy.The Green Bay Diocese will have to pay a $500,000 in damages; the suit originally sought $5.1 million.The man in the Las Vegas case says Feeney sexually assaulted him in 1984, when Feeney visited the family’s home while serving the city’s St. Francis De Sales Parish. The man’s attorneys s…

Oct 31, 2012: Judge lets archdiocese bankruptcy abuse ruling stand

A federal judge on Monday handed partial victories to both the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the sex abuse victims who make up the vast majority of creditors in its bankruptcy.The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa, lets stand a February decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley dismissing one victim’s claim and allowing two others to move forward, at least for now.The three cases were seen as test cases in which the archdiocese argued that a significant number of victims of clergy sexual abuse had enough information on the church’s handling of cases to have filed fraud claims…