Abuse Tracker

MARYLAND
Catonsville Times

03/29/07
by mary robbins

A former Woodlawn priest has been removed from his current duties as the head of an Ellicott City parish following accusations by two women claiming he sexually abused them decades ago.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore learned of allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against Monsignor Richard Smith, 67, pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City "in the past week," according to a written statement from the archdiocese. The alleged abuse occurred in the mid-to late 1960s, while Smith was a priest at the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Woodlawn, according to the archdiocese. That parish has been known as St. Gabriel since 1997.

One woman alleges she had a series of sexual encounters over a course of months in 1967 when she was approximately 15 or 16 years old, according to the Archdiocese. Another woman said that she and Smith had one inappropriate sexual interaction "sometime in 1966 or 1967 when she was about 15 years old," the statement reads.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

Front Page - Saturday, March 31, 2007 Updated @ 10:53:10 AM

The necessity of the Cornwall Public Inquiry has been debated for years, even before it was officially formed by the provincial government. The argument will certainly continue long after it comes to a conclusion as well.

The possibility for the re-victimization of abuse victims or the affect on those accused are cause for concern, while the spiralling costs are far beyond the range of what anyone could have predicted.

Still, the inquiry moved ahead with the belief that the abuse that had been covered up for decades would be revealed and the hope that a healing process would follow.

However, the inquiry suffered its first serious tremors this week as it was discovered that at least two affidavits contained incorrect information. This is a most disturbing development for all those involved, including the community at large.

CANADA
SQLFusion

(Announcement made Thursday 29 March 2007 during hearings at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. The following is taken from the Cornwall Public Inquiry transcript )

Justice Normand Glaude:The challenge of creating an environment of hope for the future, striving for reconciliation, and rebuilding trust continues to be a priority with me.

Phase 2 activities are occurring at the same time as Phase 1 hearings. You will recall that of late I have made various progress announcements about our Phase 2 work, almost monthly, covering proposed research activities, endorsing party research and providing for extension of counselling support.

COLUMBIA (SC)
WIS

(Columbia) March 29, 2007 - A Columbia pastor accused of raping a woman is out of jail on bond. His lawyer says the pastor denies the charge.

Anthony Dicks was at the funeral home he owns in Columbia on Thursday. He would not talk to WIS about the charge he faces.

Dicks has been the pastor at Friendship Baptist Church on House Street for 25 years. WIS interviewed him there for a story on violence last year. Rev. Anthony Dicks said, "You have to have the right security. We have to look out for each other."

HIGH POINT (NC)
Winston-Salem Journal

By Dan Galindo
JOURNAL REPORTER

A pastor at a High Point church has resigned and faces charg-es that he tried to get a 17-year-old boy in his congregation to engage in bondage and to make a video of sex acts.

Kernersville police arrested Todd Turner Brock, 42, on Thursday night at his home at 507 Old Mill Road in High Point.

Brock has been a pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church for 17 years, according to Kernersville police.

He faces four charges: first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor; disseminating obscenity; promoting the prostitution of a minor; and solicitation of another to commit a felony.

KERNERSVILLE (NC)
News-Record

By Sonja Elmquist and Joe Killian
Staff Writers

KERNERSVILLE -- Todd Turner Brock, a High Point pastor arrested Thursday on four felony charges related to sexually exploiting a minor, resigned from his position at Tabernacle Baptist Church before he was arrested, according to a church deacon.

A search warrant released Friday revealed disturbing details about Brock's alleged relationship with a 17-year-old boy who came to him for spiritual guidance after a friend's death of cancer.

When the boy's mother learned that Brock had allegedly begun a sexual relationship with her son she went to the police.

HARTFORD (CT)
Boston.com

March 31, 2007

HARTFORD, Conn. --A man who accused a Roman Catholic priest of sexual abuse will receive $550,000 under terms of a settlement reached last week, The Hartford Courant reported Saturday.

The payment is the ninth settlement reached by the Archdiocese of Hartford in cases involving alleged abuse by the Rev. Stephen Foley, the newspaper reported. Two other cases are pending.

Foley was accused of using his position as chaplain for local fire departments and the Connecticut State Police to molest the plaintiffs when they were teenagers in the 1970s.

His accusers say Foley, who has not been charged with a crime, lured them by using a car similar to a police cruiser.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Saturday, March 31, 2007

WILMINGTON -- A U.S. District Court jury Friday awarded $41 million in damages to an Archmere Academy graduate who testified he was sexually abused hundreds of times by a faculty priest at the prestigious Catholic school.

The jury award -- which includes $6 million in compensatory damages and $35 million in punitive damages -- is believed to be the first made to a victim of child sexual abuse by a Catholic priest in Delaware. The only defendant in the case was the Rev. Edward J. Smith; the school, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and Smith's Norbertine order were dismissed from the suit months ago.

Navy Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell, 39, of Stafford, Va., a 1986 graduate of Archmere, told jurors Thursday that he was orally and anally raped by Smith, a Norbertine priest, more than 230 times over the course of 33 months. The abuse started, Whitwell said, when he was a 14-year-old freshman at the school.

Smith, who now lives at the Norbertine priory in Middletown, was not present in court and offered no defense to the civil lawsuit. Neither he nor the superior of the Norbertine order, the Rev. James Bagnato, returned phone messages Friday.

CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Mike Tobin
Plain Dealer Reporter

Years after church deacon Jerry Bals was accused of molesting teenage girls, the Cleveland Catholic Diocese began sending money to his home.

The diocese said it paid $800 a month to Bals' wife to help raise her children.

But she was not alone. Bals lived in the Eastlake home at the time, according to court records.

The revelation outraged two of six women who sued the diocese and Bals in 1994. The lawsuit was resolved with a confidential settlement, said Mary Brigid, who told police Bals repeatedly groped her between 1972 and 1974.

"Jerry was in the home at the time, so it's like they were paying him, taking care of him," Brigid said.

"It's another example of how the church is taking care of the clergy but not taking care of the people.

"It's really disgusting."

UNITED KINGDOM
Leamington Spa Today

"Disgusting" was the word used to describe the sentence given to disgraced Leamington priest Fr Tony Jones this week after he admitted downloading child pornography.
Fr Tony, 57, who led St Peter's church in Dormer Place and attended governor meetings at St Patrick's Primary School, was given a two-month conditional discharge.
A former parishoner, who asked not to be named, vented her anger at the court's decision.
She said: "The sentencing is all wrong, it's disgusting. He had admitted it. Is it because he is a priest that he is getting away with it?"
Fr Tony, apologised for his actions through a statement from the Archbishop of Birmingham.

LOUISA (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY CALVIN R. TRICE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 31, 2007

LOUISA -- A Louisa County judge yesterday set an October trial date for the Catholic priest accused of stealing donations from two parishes he led.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis pleaded not guilty in Louisa Circuit Court to 13 embezzlement counts. He is accused of taking money from the churches from 1995 until last year.

However, it remained uncertain yesterday whether Rodis' case will ever be heard in court because his attorney said Rodis may change his pleas.

Rodis' lawyer, John R. Maus, said many of the financial records requested for the case against Rodis haven't arrived. Without a chance to review records from banks and wire transfer services, Maus said he isn't sure whether his client should contest the charges.

LOUISA (VA)
The Free Lance-Star

BY BILL FREEHLING

A former Catholic priest in Louisa County pleaded not guilty yesterday to 13 charges of embezzling funds from the two churches he served.

Rodney Lee Rodis, 50, was arraigned yesterday in Louisa Circuit Court. Judge Timothy K. Sanner read the indictments to Rodis; after each one the priest quietly said "not guilty."

Some members of St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Catholic churches, where Rodis was pastor for 13 years, whispered and murmured after the first few pleas.

State police have said Rodis may have stolen as much as $1 million from the two rural churches between 1995 and 2006.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

By Sandi Dolbee and Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
March 31, 2007

In its most extensive accounting of priests accused of sexually molesting minors, the Catholic Diocese of San Diego released the names yesterday of 38 priests with “credible allegations” against them, along with their church service records dating to 1928.

None of the priests is now in ministry here, according to the lists posted on the diocese's Web site. More than half are deceased.

San Diego Bishop Robert Brom pledged to release the names last month, when the diocese filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in bankruptcy court. The diocese became the fifth in the country to seek such protection, filing its petition late on Feb. 27, hours before the first of roughly 150 lawsuits was set to begin trial. ...

Online: To access the names of accused priests and their church service records, go to www.diocese-sdiego.org and click on “Chapter 11 Reorganization.”

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

Terri Saunders
Front Page - Friday, March 30, 2007 Updated @ 9:33:56 AM

False statements in at least two affidavits filed at the Cornwall Public Inquiry are only helping fuel the conspiracy fire, a lawyer has argued.

"Affidavits like this only add to some of the rumours and innuendos that we're here trying to separate as fact from fiction," said Giuseppe Cipriano, an attorney representing Rev. Charles MacDonald at the inquiry.

On Wednesday, hearings centered around the fact some of the affidavits filed as part of the standing and funding application by The Victims Group contain factual errors. In one affidavit, a reference to the abuse resulting in a loss of faith in the Catholic church was determined to be false; in another, two individuals were named as alleged abusers despite the fact the complainant has never made allegations against either person.

On Thursday, the subject of the second affidavit took the stand at the inquiry.

CALIFORNIA
California Catholic Daily

Are Catholics more likely to lie under oath? Yes, the March 26 Los Angeles Times seems to say.

Catholic clergy and religious, in particular, are a particularly cagey bunch, according to the Times, because they ascribe to the “doctrine” of mental reservation. Though admitting that mental reservation “is not sanctioned by canon law” and “is infrequently invoked,” “in litigation arising from clergy sex abuse cases in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, at least half a dozen lawyers representing victims report having encountered it,” the Times said.

Ira Zalkin, lawyer for alleged victims of clergy molestation, said he asked an elderly nun about mental reservation, and “she explained in her own way that it is ‘to protect the church from scandal.’” Because of mental reservation, Zalkin said, “you really don’t know” if a Catholic under oath is telling the truth. “It complicates that process when there is a doctrine that allows for a lie to avoid scandal to the church.”

But, quoting Father Thomas Doyle, a canon law expert consulted by clergy-abuse victims’ lawyers, the article asserts the doctrine has been used in modern times to "claim that it is morally justifiable to lie in order to protect the reputation of the institutional church."

COLORADO
The Gazette

By CAROL McGRAW THE GAZETTE
March 31, 2007 - 1:25AM

In the latest volley in the battle for control of Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Parish, the Rev. Donald Armstrong wrote a blistering letter to his parishioners Friday calling theft accusations against him by the Colorado Episcopal Diocese and Bishop Robert O’Neill “a fantasy” and “spiritual attack.”

The two-page letter outlines Armstrong’s response to allegations after a months-long diocesan investigation. He is accused of theft and other financial improprieties. No decision has been made about pursuing criminal charges, diocesan spokeswoman Beckett Stokes said Friday.

Armstrong said in his letter that O’Neill’s “determination to destroy me” has made it impossible for anyone to grant him a fair hearing in the ecclesiastical system. He said he has not been allowed to dispute the accusations formally and has been treated as “guilty until proven innocent.”

READING (PA)
The Republican & Herald

BY KIMM R. MONTONE
STAFF WRITER
kmontone@republicanherald.com

03/31/2007
READING — Reading police arrested a Pottsville woman on charges that she embezzled more than $46,000 from a Berks County high school.

While the Catholic school, Holy Name High School, is likely to be reimbursed through its insurance policy, the former school bookkeeper, Donna Lynn Botek, 56, of Pottsville, will be prosecuted for stealing $46,645.65. The school is under the purview of the Diocese of Allentown.

Botek is charged with possession of an instrument of a crime (a computer), unlawful use of a computer and other computer crimes, forgery, theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.

Botek declined to comment Friday afternoon.

Reading Police Capt. Francis F. Drexler said between November 2005 and December 2006, Botek wrote electronic checks payable to herself and afterward deleted the checks from the computer. He said the payments were noted as payroll and bonus checks and that Botek forged the school principal’s, Keith Laser, name on them.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

March 31, 2007

Catholic church doctrine: An article in Monday's California section about the doctrine of "mental reservation" described how San Diego Bishop Robert H. Brom used a hypothetical situation to explain the centuries-old doctrine within the Catholic Church — not sanctioned by canon law — under which it is permissible to avoid telling the truth. The article did not make it clear that the account was based only on the recollections of Irwin Zalkin, a lawyer representing victims of clerical sexual abuse who questioned Brom at a deposition, and that according to Zalkin, the remarks were made when Brom was not under oath. Catholic Diocese of San Diego Chancellor Rodrigo Valdivia, given a copy of Zalkin's remarks in advance of Monday's article, declined to comment on behalf of the diocese.

WILMINGTON (DE)
MoreLaw

Date: 3/31/2007

Case Style: Kenneth Whitwell v. Archmere Academy, Inc., et al.

Case Number: 1:05-cv-00796-SLR

Judge: Sue Robinson

Court: United States District Court for the District of Delaware(New Castle County)

Plaintiff's Attorney:

Steve Neuberger and Tom Neuberger of The Neuberger Firm, P.A.,

Defendant's Attorney:

Anthony G. Flynn of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, Wilmington, Delaware and Neilli M. Walsh of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, Wilmington, Delaware for the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Inc. and Rev. Michael A. Saltarelli

SAN DIEGO (CA)
KNX

San Diego, CA. (CNS) -- The Catholic Diocese of San Diego has released a list of 38 priests ``against whom there are credible allegations'' of sexual abuse, but it says none of the clergy are active and more than half are dead.

The list, published Friday on the diocese's Web site, reveals the names of clergy and where they served, but does not say when the alleged abuse occurred or the nature of the abuse.

Twenty-six of the clergy were described as being in the San Diego or San Bernardino Diocese and 12 were described as being outside the diocese, but in the San Diego-San Bernardino area.

A few of the clergy were with the diocese as recently as the 1990s, but most left in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, and more than 20 are dead.

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

March 31, 2007
By ELIZABETH HAMILTON And DAVE ALTIMARI, Courant Staff Writers

The Archdiocese of Hartford agreed this week to pay $550,000 to a man who accused the Rev. Stephen Foley of using his position as Hartford County fire chaplain to sodomize him when he was a 14-year-old parishioner in Windsor Locks.

Foley, who has been accused of abuse by at least 11 men since 1993 and was removed from public ministry in 2002, is still affiliated with the county fire organization he belonged to when the alleged assault occurred. He now holds the title of "chaplain emeritus" of the group, according to board members.

The organization, which now goes by the name of Hartford County Fire Emergency Plan, was formed in 1969 as the Hartford County Mutual Aid Association. Foley was its first chaplain, said one of the group's original presidents, Chester J. Haber. Part of the group's mission is to provide mutual aid for member fire departments.

The current president of the group is Windsor Locks Fire Chief Gary Ruggiero. Haber said Ruggiero sent an e-mail to the board of directors Friday criticizing the newspaper for publishing a story last Sunday that exposed Foley's continued use of a police-equipped Crown Victoria with flashing lights, sirens and scanners.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
The Orange County Register

The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Friday released the names of 37 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, following up on a pledge that it made when it filed for bankruptcy protection a month ago.

Diocese officials said the roster is an exhaustive list of priests facing "credible allegations," listing the dates and parishes in San Diego where each served and noting the current status of each.

At least 20 are dead, according to the documents. None remain in active ministry.

The list does not specify the nature or the extent of abuse claims against those named.

Bishop Robert Brom promised to release the names when he told parishioners in February that the diocese decided to file for bankruptcy protection in the face of more than 140 civil lawsuits filed by people claiming abuse by priests.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
The Lompoc Record

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego released the names of 38 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, following up on a pledge that it made when it filed for bankruptcy protection a month ago. Here's a list in alphabetical order, with current status:

_Rev. Gustavo Benson (status unknown);

_James T. Booth (left priesthood, married);

_Monsignor Donald F. Doxie (deceased);

_Monsignor Rudolph Galindo (removed);

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Chippewa Herald

By ALLISON HOFFMAN

SAN DIEGO - The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Friday released the names of 38 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, following up on a pledge that it made when it filed for bankruptcy protection a month ago.

Diocese officials said the roster is an exhaustive account of priests facing "credible allegations," listing the dates and parishes in San Diego where each served and noting the current status of each. Plaintiff attorneys said the list was incomplete.

At least 20 are dead, according to the documents. None remain in active ministry in San Diego, according to diocese counsel Micheal Webb.

The list does not specify the nature or the extent of abuse claims against those named.

Some have been accused of abuse in lawsuits filed against the diocese, but others have not, Webb said.

Those listed served in a variety of roles _ pastor, deacon, chaplain _ in parishes, schools, seminaries and hospitals throughout San Diego and San Bernardino, which was part of the San Diego diocese until 1978.

PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA

Andy Sheehan
Reporting

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH He was a Catholic priest defrocked by the Diocese of Pittsburgh after allegations surfaced that he had molested school kids.

However, Jack Hoehl continued to work with young people as a counselor in West Virginia.

That didn't sit well with some who say he victimized them.

They're all grown men now but they say the psychological and emotional scars remain.

For six of Father Hoehl's former students, the situation has been untenable.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Ted Thompson
Published: March 31, 2007

A March 17 Star Tribune editorial endorsed the idea that the "discovery of childhood sexual abuse scars can take years" and therefore it is a good idea for the Legislature to "reinstate a special statute of limitations for delayed discovery of damages caused by the childhood sexual abuse."

While most legislators agree, there is one key legislator whose doesn't.

The bill in the House of Representatives to restore the right for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue based on delayed discovery is sponsored by more than 25 legislators. Its chances of gaining approval by the whole body are considered excellent. However, because the chairman of the committee that the bill must go through so strongly opposes the bill, it appears very unlikely that it will ever get a chance to become law.

The chair, Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minneapolis, has refused the request of chief author Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, to give the bill a hearing in his committee.

WILMINGTON (DE)
New Orleans Times-Picayune

3/30/2007, 8:30 p.m. CDT
By RANDALL CHASE
The Associated Press

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A jury awarded $41 million Friday to a Navy officer who said a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused him hundreds of times as a teen.

Jurors awarded Cmdr. Kenneth Whitwell $6 million in compensatory damages and $35 million in punitive damages.

Whitwell, 39, claimed the Rev. Edward J. Smith raped and sodomized him more than 230 times over several years at Archmere Academy, and that church officials did nothing to stop it. The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Bishop Michael Saltarelli and the high school were dismissed from the lawsuit last year.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Diocese of San Diego

This is the link for the names of priests serving in the diocese who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Monterey Herald

ALLISON HOFFMAN
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Friday released the names of 38 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, following up on a pledge that it made when it filed for bankruptcy protection a month ago.

Diocese officials said the roster is an exhaustive list of priests facing "credible allegations," listing the dates and parishes in San Diego where each served and noting the current status of each.

At least 20 are dead, according to the documents. None remain in active ministry.

The list does not specify the nature or the extent of abuse claims against those named.

OHIO
Dayton Daily News

By Lou Grieco
Staff Writer

Friday, March 30, 2007

DAYTON — A new indictment of Dennis Bowling, the Riverside pastor already charged with 76 sex-related counts, will take that number up to 84, including a first-degree felony.

In December, Bowling was charged with 11 counts of sexual battery. A January indictment added 65 counts, all but one a felony.

The new indictment, issued by a grand jury Thursday, will replace the January indictment, said Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Greg Flannagan.

The 73 counts in the new indictment corrects some dates in the January indictment, which is critical because Ohio law takes age of victim into consideration for some offenses and penalties, Flannagan said.

OHIO
The Advocate

By KIMBERLY DICK
Advocate Reporter

COLUMBUS -- Federal child pornography charges against a former Newark minister's wife were dismissed Wednesday.

In U.S. District Court, Judge George C. Smith dismissed the case against Judy Waser, 54, of Newark.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Solove filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss the one felony count of attempted possession of child pornography Judy Waser faced.

"I can't really say why it was dismissed," Solove said. "We don't plan to go forward with it."
Her husband, David Waser, 57, a former minister at Newark's Second Church of Christ, is being detained after pleading guilty last week in federal court to receiving child pornography.

KERNERSVILLE (NC)
News-Record

KERNERSVILLE -- A pastor at a High Point church faces numerous charges involving a 17-year-old boy, Kernersville police announced today.

Todd Turner Brock, 42, of 507 Old Mill Road in High Point, is charged with first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, promoting prostitution of a minor, disseminating obscenity and solicitation of another to commit a felony, according to Kernersville police.

Brock has been pastor for 17 years at Tabernacle Baptist Church in High Point, police stated in a news release.

The case began March 23 after a 17-year-old boy who lives in Kernersville came forward to his parents and a school counselor, said Detective Sammy Peddycord of the Kernersville Police Department.

The victim and Brock knew each other, Peddycord said. He declined to release specifics about the case, citing the continuing investigation in Kernersville and at least one other location.

LOUISA (VA)
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 3/30/2007

A former Catholic priest in Louisa County pleaded not guilty today to 13 charges of embezzling funds from two Catholic churches he served as pastor.

A weeklong trial was scheduled for Oct. 1-5 for Rodney Lee Rodis, 50, on the charges he stole funds from his former parishes, St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Catholic churches. Police have said the thefts may have exceeded $1 million.

Rodis' bond was increased from $10,000 to $25,000 today and he was taken into custody while arrangements were made for his bond. His lawyer, Jack Maus, said he would be able to make his bond. Rodis was indicted on the first embezzlement charge Jan. 8. and 12 additional charges were added earlier this month. The initial indictment accused Rodis of stealing from the churches between September 2001 and October 2006. The new indictments charge him with stealing during 12 separate six-month periods between September 1995 and September 2001.

The former priest lives in the Sheraton Hills area of Spotsylvania County. He is a native of the Philippines and had to surrender his passport to get bond. He had been living with 44-year-old Joyce Sillador and three girls, but those four recently moved to New Mexico. Rodis remains to face the charges in Louisa.

RIVERSIDE (OH)
WHIO

RIVERSIDE, Ohio -- A Riverside pastor is facing additional sex-related charges.

Pastor Dennis Bowling has now been charged with 84 counts after a new indictment was issued on Thursday. The new indictment includes a felony charge in the rape of a child under 13.

Bowling has been the pastor of Kingdom Harvest Church for 19 years. He was arrested after women from the church accused him of sexual assault.

NORTH CAROLINA
WFMY

Kernersville, NC -- A High Point pastor is under arrest, after police charged him with sexual exploitation of a minor.

Todd Turner Brock, has served as Pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church in High Point for seventeen years.

He was arrested by Kernersville Police and charged with First Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Promoting Prostitution of a Minor, Disseminating Obscenity and Solicitation of Another to Commit a Felony.

According to the arrest warrant Brock sent the minor a picture of his genitals via email. When the juvenile's parents saw it, they called police.

TENNESSEE
WATE

March 30, 2007

By HANA KIM
Good Morning Tennessee Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A Dyersburg youth pastor and track coach has an October trial date for his statutory rape charge in Knoxville.

Timothy Neal Byars, 44, is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl at Victor Ashe Park in November 2006. The girl was asleep in the back of his SUV before a track meet. Byars was her coach.

Byars was also arrested later on a second sexual battery charge for molesting the girl's sister. He's charged with rape, sexual battery, statutory rape and aggravated statutory rape.

HIGH POINT (NC)
WGHP

By CARON MYERS
FOX8 News
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) -- A pastor at a church in High Point, N.C., faces numerous charges involving a 17-year-old boy.

On Friday, police in Kernersville arrested 42-year-old Todd Brock, the pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church, and charged him with several sex crimes, including first-degree exploitation of a minor and promoting prostitution of a minor.

"Communication began over telephone and Internet with a minor that was 17 years of age," explained Kernersville Police Detective Sammy Peddycord.

Brock, a single man who has pastored the church for 18 years, is in the Forsyth County Detention Center under a $1 million bond. Deacons from Tabernacle Baptist said Brock submitted a letter of resignation before his arrest.

LUMBERTON (NC)
The Robesonian

By Matt Elofson - Staff writer
LUMBERTON - A former Parkton pastor has been sentenced to 15 to 18 years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl who had his baby.

The sentence came Tuesday after 42-year-old Ronald Lee Simpson pled guilty to having sex with the child from late 2003 to August 2004. He also pled guilty to molesting a 14-year-old girl at the Shannon church that he led.

Assistant District Attorney Joe Osman was confident of a conviction had the case gone to trial.

“One of the most important things in this case is the DNA evidence ... that would have proven he had sex with a minor child,” Osman said. “You couple that with the testimony of the second victim and her description of how this occurred at her church by her pastor ... we had a very strong case against this defendant.”

LOUISA (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY CALVIN R. TRICE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 30, 2007

The priest accused of stealing as much as $1 million from two Louisa County Catholic churches pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to stand trial Oct. 1.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, 50, this morning entered not guilty pleas to 13 counts of embezzlement.

He is charged with stealing from St. Jude church in Mineral and Immaculate Conception church in Bumpass beginning in 1995, a year after he became pastor of the two parishes.

Authorities discovered the money missing in November.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Baltimore Sun

By Randall Chase
The Associated Press
Originally published March 30, 2007, 4:32 PM EDT
WILMINGTON, Del. // A federal jury today awarded $41 million to a Navy officer who as a teenager was repeatedly sexually abused by a priest.

The jury deliberated for just over two hours before deciding to award Navy Cmdr. Kenneth Whitwell, 39, $6 million in compensatory damages and $35 million in punitive damages.

Whitwell bowed his head and wiped his eyes with his hands as the verdict was read.

Whitwell won a default judgment against the Rev. Edward J. Smith in January after Smith failed to respond to a federal lawsuit.

The case marks the first time that a priest has been found liable in Delaware for child sexual abuse.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Friday, March 30, 2007 at 1:40 pm
WILMINGTON -- A U.S. District Court jury now is deliberating whether an alumnus of Archmere Academy is entitled to damages for the sexual abuse he says he suffered from a priest who was on the faculty at the prestigious Catholic school.

The Rev. Edward J. Smith, a Norbertine priest, offered no defense to the civil lawsuit, which allowed Naval Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell, 39 of Stafford, Va., to bring the case to a federal jury, though the statute of limitations had expired.

Whitwell testified Thursday that he was orally and anally raped by the priest more than 200 times -- from the time he was a 14-year-old freshman at Archmere in 1982 until the summer of 1985.

LOUISA (VA)
NBC 4

LOUISA, Va. -- A Roman Catholic priest charged with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from two rural churches pleaded not guilty on Friday.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, 50, is charged with 13 counts of embezzlement. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison on each count.

Rodis stood quietly as Louisa County Circuit Judge Timothy Sanner read the first of 13 embezzlement charges against him. Sanner then asked the priest, "What is your plea?" After a long pause, Rodis finally answered, "Not guilty, your honor."

At that, several grim-faced former parishioners of Rodis bowed their heads, one letting out a heavy sigh.

WILMINGTON (DE)
KYW

(AP) WILMINGTON A psychiatrist is scheduled to testify Friday in the case of a Catholic priest found liable for the sexual abuse of teenager who is now a Navy officer.

Navy Commander Kenneth Whitwell said the priest, Edward Smith, abused him for three years while he was a student at Archmere Academy.

Whitwell said the abuse began when he was a freshman in 1982.

He said the priest was young and cool and had money and nice clothes. And he said the priest held him up in front of other students as someone who was special.

HUTCHINSON (KS)
The Hutchinson News

A church secretary was arrested Wednesday for allegedly embezzling more than $5,000 from her employer.

Mary Jolelle Drush, 40, of 501 Monterey Place, was arrested on suspicion of felony theft and unlawful use of a financial card.

COLORADO
The Gazette

By BRIAN NEWSOME
THE GAZETTE
March 30, 2007 - 12:35AM

The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado is trying to freeze Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Parish funds and is pursuing legal action against church leaders who voted to break away from the denomination.

Parishioners who want to remain Episcopalian learned about the developments in a meeting with Colorado Bishop Robert O’Neill and the diocese attorney Wednesday night at Colorado College.

Reporters were not allowed at the meeting, but numerous parishioners Thursday confirmed the announcements.

Alan Crippen, a parishioner and spokesman for the breakaway church, said church funds did not appear frozen as of Thursday afternoon.

The diocese declined comment Thursday.

The meeting with the bishop came hours after church members learned of diocesan accusations against the church’s longtime rector, the Rev. Donald Armstrong.

The Colorado diocese suspended Armstrong during a months-long investigation into what the diocese says is his theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars and other financial crimes.

SCOTLAND
The Daily Record

By Gordon Mcilwraith
A PRIEST claimed to have had sex with a Polish student whose body was later found under the floor of his church, a court heard yesterday.

Father Gerry Nugent told a Sunday newspaper he had a relationship with Angelika Kluk, 23, jurors heard.

But her sister, Aneta Kluk, branded the suggestion "outrageous and untrue" when she gave evidence at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The court heard earlier that Father Nugent, 66, the priest at Glasgow's St Patrick's Church, turned "cold" towards Angelika after learning she was having an affair with an older, married man.

SCOTLAND
This is London

A student was murdered and buried under the floorboards of a church after having affairs with a priest and a married man, a court heard yesterday.

Angelika Kluk, a 23-year-old from Poland, came to Britain during her summer holidays to earn money but ended up in a relationship with the priest of the Catholic church where she was staying, it is claimed.

SCOTLAND
Glasgow Evening Times

A DRUNKEN priest's claims he had a sex with a Polish student whose body was found under his church were branded "outrageous and untrue" by the dead girl's sister.

A murder trial heard that 66-year-old Father Gerry Nugent spoke of his affair to police investigating the death of Angelika Kluk, 23.

But the girl's sister, Aneta, 28, branded the priest a liar and a "Jekyll and Hyde" character who drank too much.

The High Court in Edinburgh has heard Angelika was staying at St Patrick's Church in Anderston, Glasgow, cleaning and helping out in return for her board and lodging.

UNITED KINGDOM
Ealing Times

HE priest accused of molesting a former pupil at St Benedict's school 20 years ago, told a jury: "The incident never happened and I deny the allegation utterly".

Father Gerald Stanislaus Hobbs - known as Father Stan - said the victim, now a journalist, was making the claims because he couldn't get him for an incident that took place on an Italian holiday.

The priest has admitted that the incident took place on the school holiday when the boy came to him with constipation, but as he cannot be prosecuted for that in this country he said: "Because he could not get me in Italy - he would try to get me in England."

The father, who suffers from tremoring in his hands, told the court he was born into a GP's family in Ealing and had joined St Benedict's Abbey when he was 18.

He told the jury at Isleworth Crown Court yesterday that in his 60 years at the Abbey: "No-one has ever made an allegation of impropriety against me, or anything like that whatsoever".

UGANDA
AllAfrica

The Monitor (Kampala)

Posted to the web March 30, 2007

A Priest who was arrested by police on March 23 has denied allegations of adultery against him.

Esau Abwomugisha, attached to Kigezi Diocese, is detained at Kagadi Police Station. The Rev. Abwomugisha on Monday told Daily Monitor that a person with high moral values like him cannot have a marital affair with a married woman.

Kibaale Officer in Charge of the Criminal Investigations Department Fred Mirondo said the Rev. Abwomugisha is suspected to have had an affair with a married woman Molly Abomugisa.

CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By Gregory W. Griggs, Times Staff Writer
March 29, 2007

A former Thousand Oaks pastor who pleaded guilty to sexually molesting a young female student in the late 1980s was sentenced this week to more than six years in prison.

William Alan Malgren, 52, briefly fainted after hearing his sentence, handed down Tuesday afternoon by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Bruce Clark. Malgren was revived within minutes.

Prosecutor Maeve Fox said the ruling came after the judge reviewed a psychiatric report suggesting that Malgren was open to counseling and could benefit from it. It also followed the reading of a three-page letter from the victim, who is now a married mother in her 30s living in another state.

"This really messed up her life," Fox said of the woman who last summer notified authorities about the molestations. "The judge made a decision that he should be punished."

CARMEL (IN)
Indianapolis Star

By Robert Annis
robert.annis@indystar.com

CARMEL, Ind. -- A Carmel church wants its members to show love and forgiveness to a former elder accused of molesting a 3-year-old girl, causing the child's family and others to leave the congregation.

The girl's father said the family no longer feels welcome because of the support shown for the accused man.

"It's a disgrace that the church would embrace a criminal and turn its back on the victim, especially one that's a young child," the father said.

A counseling director, in defense of the church's position, described College Park Church as "a hospital for sinners."

BOISE (ID)
KTRV

Boise, Idaho -- Victims abused by clergy spoke out about a new Idaho law Thursday.

The group called SNAP, which stands for Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, gathered on the steps of the Statehouse -- informing residents about a bill Governor Otter recently signed.

It extends the civil statute of limitations on child sex crimes to five years from the time the child discovers the crime caused them harm.

Specifically, it allows those who were molested as kids to file lawsuits against anyone who employed their predator.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

Terri Saunders
Front Page - Thursday, March 29, 2007 Updated @ 10:58:14 AM

False statements in at least two affidavits filed with the Cornwall Public Inquiry may lead to a lack of public confidence in the commission's work, lawyers argued Wednesday.

"This deals with the credibility of the process," said Peter Wardle, an attorney representing the Citizens for Community Renewal.

Earlier this month, a series of sworn affidavits signed by members of The Victims Group were removed from the inquiry's website. Commission counsel received information that some of the statements contained in at least two of the documents, prepared by and presented to the inquiry by attorneys from the London-based law firm Ledroit Beckett, were incorrect.

CANADA
SQLFusion

Terri Saunders

Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 10:00

Local News - David Silmser might have left the Cornwall Public Inquiry before all the parties could ask him questions but it looks as if he might have the last word.

On the same day parties began sifting through the evidence Silmser gave during several days on the witness stand earlier this year, a letter he wrote to Comm. Normand Glaude was front and centre at the hearings.

Silmser has testified he was sexually abused by a city priest, a now-deceased probation officer and a teacher in the 1960s and 1970s when he was a teenager. Charges were never laid against the teacher, the probation officer committed suicide before charges could be laid against him and charges against the priest were stayed in 2002 when a judge determined it had taken too long to bring the matter to trial.

Over the course of several days, Silmser testified about the abuse, the effect it had on his life and the contact he had with a variety of public institutions.

UTAH
ABC 4

Story by:
Brent Hunsaker
brent@abc4.com

Since his father Rulon Jeffs died in September 2002, Warren Jeffs has been the prophet of the FLDS polygamist group. Under that mantle, Jeffs has allegedly separated husbands from children and wives, kicked rivals to his rule out of the community and directed the building of a new compound and a temple near El Dorado, Texas.

People familiar with the FLDS leader says his reign has been one of the most tumultuous of any previous leader. But now Jeffs has reportedly denied having authority to do any of that.

The Deseret News reports that in a jailhouse conversation with his brother, Nephi Jeffs, Warren Jeffs confessed that God did not speak to him and that he is "the greatest sinner".

The newspaper says there's a recording of that conversation in the hands of the Washington County attorney, but it has not been made public. Neither the county attorney nor sheriff will even confirm its existence.

NORRISTOWN (PA)
Pottstown Mercury

Carl Hessler Jr., chessler@pottsmerc.com
03/30/2007

NORRISTOWN -- A judge ruled prosecutors do not have sufficient evidence to try a former Royersford pastor on allegations he stole money from a church fund for the needy.

Montgomery County Judge William R. Carpenter indicated in a one-page ruling that prosecutors failed to establish that a crime actually occurred in connection with William B. Shrout Jr.’s handling of $393 in a Sunshine Fund while he was pastor at the First United Church of Christ.

Carpenter made the decision after reviewing documents, including a church ledger pertaining to distributions from the Sunshine Fund, that prosecutors submitted as evidence against Shrout.

MARYLAND
The Examiner

Mar 30, 2007 3:00 AM (4 hrs ago)
by Ron Cassie, The Examiner

Howard County (Map, News) - Previous allegations of child sexual abuse by Monsignor Richard Smith, former pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City, were made by an Anne Arundel County man in May, according to the victim’s mother.

Smith was recently removed from his duties after two women accused him of sexually abusing them as teens about 40 years ago.

The alleged incidents now coming to light took place when Smith served at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church in Riviera Beach, from 1979 until 1983.

Archdiocese officials maintained Sunday in a meeting with parishioners, and Monday in a phone interview, that they were unaware of any previous allegations of sexual impropriety ever made against Smith.

IRELAND
RTE Entertainment

Director: Amy Berg

Duration: 101 minutes

The sexual abuse of children is often described as 'unspeakable', and perhaps this in part is why it is so difficult to combat. 'Deliver Us From Evil' takes a braver approach, choosing to transport us directly into the heart of darkness via the sickening career of the convicted Irish-born paedophile priest Oliver O'Grady. Controversially, O'Grady himself is one of the film's key interviewees. To her credit, the director Amy Berg subverts his evident wish to vindicate or downplay the reality of his crimes by counter-pointing his frequently self-serving testimony with the remarkably frank and moving interviews given to her by his victims and their parents.

Aside from these fundamentally opposite elements, 'Deliver Us From Evil' also includes legal depositions given by O'Grady and his superiors, Bishop (now Cardinal) Mahony and Monsignor Cain, prior to O'Grady's trial and conviction for sexual assault, and interviews with a number of American lawyers and theology experts. It has no narrator; instead utilising to good effect minimal textual and graphic links to supply a sense of time, place and movement.

PORTLAND (OR)
The Register-Guard

By Bill Bishop
The Register-Guard
Published: Thursday, March 29, 2007

A federal judge on Wednesday set the stage for approval next month of a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the Archdiocese of Portland, which in 2004 became the first Roman Catholic diocese in the nation to file bankruptcy on the eve of trials in multimillion-dollar lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by priests.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jones concluded that the one remaining unsettled claim against the archdiocese would cost $100,000 to settle - well below the $13.7 million set aside for unsettled claims under the proposed reorganization plan.

Jones had scheduled public "estimation hearings" for about 20 remaining child sexual abuse claims to determine whether the $13.7 million fund was adequate to cover the potential jury awards. However, after the estimation hearings that began March 13, all but one of those claims has been settled privately.

CANADA
The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Thursday, March 29, 2007
The commissioner of the Cornwall Public Inquiry has announced a series of practical research projects aimed at fostering healing in Cornwall.

The projects are to operate in parallel with the inquiry into reports of systemic child sex abuse, which is expected to run until early 2008.

Judge Normand Glaude posted a proposed research agenda on the commission’s website and invited submissions. Proposals were reviewed by an advisory panel which made recommendations to the commissioner.

People want activities they see as practical and likely to make a difference in the future,” said Judge Glaude in a statement Thursday. “This is why you will see a focus on education and pragmatic activities and less on traditional academic research.”

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

March 30, 2007
One point the story of Richard Foley makes abundantly clear is that the nation's Roman Catholic bishops struck a deal with the devil when they adopted the policy of allowing priests suspected of sexual abuse to remain in the priesthood and to financially support them.

On Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Hartford evicted the Rev. Foley from St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, where he had been living since 1993. Archbishop Henry Mansell also ordered the Rev. Foley to sell his 2002 Ford Crown Victoria - the official car of the state police, tricked out with emergency lights, scanners and antennae - a holdover from the priest's days as a fire and state police chaplain.

The decision followed an investigative article published Sunday in The Courant reporting that the Rev. Foley was among 14 priests accused of sexual molestation who were part of a $22 million settlement by the archdiocese in 2002. The Rev. Foley continued to live at the seminary, receiving free room and board, health insurance and a monthly stipend from th