HARTFORD (CT)
NBC 30
HARTFORD, Conn. -- A Hartford pastor accused of fathering the child of an 11-year-old girl was back in court Monday.
Modesto Reyes, 52, is facing several charges including sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.
Reyes is accused of sexually assaulting the girl four times between August and December of last year inside the church on Broad Street.
Hartford police said DNA tests prove Reyes fathered the child.
INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Fort Wayne News-Sentinel
KEN KUSMER
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS - The 12th Indiana lawsuit to accuse former Catholic priest Harry Monroe of preying sexually on boys alleges he abused the same teenage victim more than 50 times until the Archdiocese of Indianapolis transferred him.
The complaint filed Monday in Marion Superior Court in Indianapolis alleged the abuse began in 1975 when the boy was 13 and Monroe was a new priest posted to St. Monica's Catholic Church on Indianapolis' northwest side. The abuse allegedly continued over four years while Monroe took subsequent postings at two other parishes in other parts of the city.
The abuse occurred in rectories at all three parishes, at a house on Lake Tippecanoe in Kosciusko County, about 35 miles southeast of South Bend, and in getaways to Brown County, said the man's attorney, Patrick Noaker of St. Paul, Minn.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Michael Zeigler
Staff writer
(July 31, 2006) — A Roman Catholic priest accused of fondling a 14-year-old boy was allowed to plead guilty today to a non sexual charge.
The Rev. Dennis R. Sewar, 55, who was charged with a misdemeanor of third-degree sexual abuse, pleaded guilty to attempted endangering the welfare of a child, also a misdemeanor.
Rochester City Court Judge John E. Elliott sentenced Sewar to one year of probation but warned him that he could face 90 days in jail if he violates conditions of his probation.
Sewar was charged with touching the boy's clothed genitals in 1999 in the rectory of a Rochester church. The charge to which he pleaded guilty alleged that he attempted to endanger the child's mental, moral or physical well-being.
JOHNSON CITY (TX)
San Francisco Chronicle
By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer
Monday, July 31, 2006
(07-31) 14:21 PDT Johnson City, Texas (AP) --
Four monks pleaded not guilty to charges alleging a boy was sexually assaulted at a Texas monastery that draws thousands of visitors every year, officials said Monday.
Authorities raided the Christ of the Hills Monastery last week in search of "instruments of child abuse," Blanco County District Attorney Sam Oatman said.
The four monks, plus another serving a 10-year prison sentence for indecency with a minor, were arrested and indicted after a young man claimed he had been assaulted at the monastery beginning in 1993, when he was in his teens. Oatman said another accuser has come forward, and others could follow.
Three of the monks appeared in court in shackles and orange corrections jumpsuits Monday and entered not guilty pleas to charges of sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity. Monastery founder Samuel Greene, 61, who is ill, was not in court but has pleaded not guilty, Oatman said.
JOHNSON CITY (TX)
KLTV
JOHNSON CITY, Texas Three monks pleaded not guilty in court today to charges of sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity at a Hill Country monastery.
The monks were charged last week after a raid at the Christ of the Hills Monastery, near Blanco. Blanco County District Attorney Sam Oatman says the raid was to search for what he called "instruments of child abuse."
The indictments relate to one boy allegedly assaulted while a teen, starting in 1993.
TEXAS
KVUE
08:45 AM CDT on Monday, July 31, 2006
KVUE News
An arraignment hearing was scheduled Monday morning for several monks who were arrested last week and charged with sexual assault of a child.
Five monks from the Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco County have been charged.
The founder of the Blanco County monastery, Alexander Green, Jr., 61, will not appear in court Monday. His lawyer was able to waive his arraignment.
SOUTH AFRICA
Sunday Times
ILSE FREDERICKS
A PRIEST at the centre of a sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in South Africa has died in a car crash — on the eve of his trial for indecent assault.
Father James McCauley, arrested in March, was killed last weekend on his way home after dinner with three friends in Cape Town.
He was due to stand trial in September.
An investigation by the Sunday Times uncovered allegations that he sexually abused at least four young men over a period spanning 20 years.
McCauley, a Redemptorist, retired in 2003 after the newspaper revealed how the Catholic Church conducted its own investigation into a complaint that he sodomised a Sudanese refugee, Adam Okot. The church cleared McCauley.
BLANCO (TX)
CBS 42
(CBS 42) A group of Central Texas monks, accused of molesting a teenager, are due in court Monday morning for arraignment.
The monks are also accused of supplying the teen with drugs and alcohol.
All five monks are from the Christ of the Hills monastery in Blanco County.
CALIFORNIA
Union-Tribune
By Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 31, 2006
Since the sexual-abuse scandal involving Roman Catholic priests broke more than four years ago, thousands of lawsuits against clergy and dioceses in cities across the country have been tried or settled for an estimated total of $1.5 billion.
But more than 700 such cases filed against the dioceses in San Diego (160) and Los Angeles (560) have languished since 2003. This is by far the largest collection of priest-abuse cases anywhere.
Attorneys representing adults who say they were molested decades ago as children argue there is a simple reason that none of the cases has gone to trial: Church officials here and in Los Angeles have been masters at stalling.
INDIANA
Indianapolis Star
By Robert King
robert.king@indystar.com
Wherever Harry Monroe lived in his 10-year journey through Indiana as a Catholic priest, claims of child sexual abuse followed.
There was the altar boy at St. Andrew parish in Indianapolis who says Monroe robbed him of his ability to believe in God.
There was the boy in the youth group at St. Patrick in Terre Haute, who became so depressed after his encounters with Monroe, his mother says, that he withdrew from life and died in an apparent suicide before his 20th birthday.
And there was the boy in Tell City, along the Ohio River, who wanted to be a priest himself one day -- until, he says, Monroe stole his innocence.
Now, Monroe and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis face 11 civil lawsuits from men, now in their 30s and 40s, who claim Monroe sexually molested them when he was a priest from 1974 through 1984.
HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant
July 30, 2006
Even after all these weeks, you can still feel the tension between them. Emily Rivera shakes her head in disbelief as her mother speaks. Her mother talks haltingly, carefully, and still it's just seconds after we've all sat down in their living room before they find themselves at odds.
"If he did it..." Rivera's mother starts.
"If?" Rivera exclaims, incredulous. "Mami there's DNA."
"DNA," Rivera repeats, "How do you explain that?"
Her mother sits, quietly. She can't.
It's been like this between them ever since Hartford minister Modesto Reyes got arrested five weeks ago, accused of repeatedly raping and impregnating an 11-year-old parishioner.
DARIEN (CT)
The Advocate
By Mark Ginocchio
Staff Writer
Published July 30 2006
DARIEN -- It was a day of anger but also a day of recovery, officials at St. John's parish said yesterday.
After parishioners were sent a copy of a report last week detailing exorbitant financial improprieties at St. John Roman Catholic Church, the Rev. Frank McGrath, the new pastor, told those at 4:30 p.m. Mass yesterday that it was understandable to "still be in shock," but he also advised them to be strong.
"We are moving in the right direction," McGrath said. "We're in this together."
During his homily, the Rev. Walter Orlowski of St. Matthew's Church in Norwalk, told parishioners to read the entire 27-page report describing how St. John's former pastor, the Rev. Michael Jude Fay, misspent an estimated $1.4 million in church donations to lead a life of luxury with another man.
DARIEN (CT)
The Advocate
Our complete coverage.
July 30, 2006
'The truth is tough' for parishioners at St. John's
It was a day of anger but also a day of recovery, officials at St. John's parish said yesterday.
July 17, 2006
Darien case spotlights church problem
Money goes missing from an affluent Catholic church in Fairfield County. Parish insiders suspect the pastor. They take the matter to the Diocese of Bridgeport.
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Patrick McIlheran
After I first read the list of priests who should never be near children, I mainly was relieved not to recognize any names.
As the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese says it regularly updates the list on its Web site ( www.archmil.org), you're never off the hook. You think of priests you knew as a kid, especially popular ones - the guitar players, the ones who ran retreats: Please, not them.
It's one more cloud in the decades-long storm. The evil let in by this sexually abusive fringe of the priesthood, and the bishops who mishandled it, is only now clear. The worst pain was inflicted on victims, but the most widespread damage was to the faith of every Catholic.
Then came lesser consequences, lawsuits among them. The Milwaukee Archdiocese says it's already paid $11 million. About that much is on the line in 10 cases in California, where Father Siegfried Widera, busted here in the 1970s, went in the '80s and continued his predation. Milwaukee inadequately warned Californians, say plaintiffs.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan has warned Milwaukee Catholics that while the church's structure here probably will keep parishes from being seized in lawsuits, the cost could be bankruptcy.
JAMAICA
Jamaica Gleaner
Glenda Simms
The extremely highly-publicised and much-debated incident which involved the 46-year-old so-called deacon, Donovan Jones of the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, three young men and a 13-year-old girl, has certainly marked a defining moment in the struggle for the human rights of Jamaican women and girls.
This writer does not intend to rehash the horrific implications of this incident for both the Church and the state. Instead, I wish to highlight a few issues that should force us to treat such serious matters as more than 'nine-day wonders' in our society.
First of all, the criminality of the deacon, the internalisation of evil and hatred of women and girls in young men and the vulnerability of young girls to the erosion of their selfhood should force the Jamaican society to both take a look at what is happening around us and to ensure that we stop rationalising the evil acts of evil men.
Secondly, in the words of fellow journalist Ian Boyne, we need to recognise the cultish dimensions of organised religion. And against this realisation, we need to cult-proof our children, especially our young girls.
ARLINGTON (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
ARLINGTON – Terry Hornbuckle was a rising-star preacher with a growing church, friends in the NFL and a million-dollar house under construction.
One of the women accusing him of rape once said that Mr. Hornbuckle's fate is now in the hands of God. But a Tarrant County jury will have the first say as testimony in the pastor's criminal trial starts this week.
Jury selection began Friday. He faces three counts of sexual assault and one count each of retaliation, tampering with a witness and possession of methamphetamine.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal
It was the "greatest heartbreak" he's ever known, and at its peak, he considered heeding the calls for his resignation.
But Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly said the sex-abuse scandal involving priests in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, which peaked in 2003, was "his responsibility to address," so he stayed.
That decision came despite criticism over revelations that he had kept priests in ministry after learning they had abused minors.
"I know that probably offended some people and I regret that very much, but … looking back on it now, I feel that I should have stayed," he said.
COLLEGEVILLE (MN)
St. Cloud Times
By Frank Lee fclee@stcloudtimes.com
Published: July 29. 2006 1:00AM
COLLEGEVILLE — New allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced Friday against three members of the St. John’s monastic community.
The Revs. Michael Bik, Bruce Wollmering and the late Rev. Robert Blumeyer were named in a statement by the abbey based on an annual review board report to Abbot John Klassen.
“It is the abbot’s view that these allegations are credible,” said the Rev. William Skudlarek, abbey spokesman.
The allegations against Bik were made in 1997 and include “inappropriate sexual conduct with two teen-agers in the 1970s” before he joined the abbey and before his ordination.
The allegations against Wollmering were made in 2004 and include “sexual misconduct early in the 1980s reported by a former St. John’s (University) student,” according to Skudlarek.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Ben Mitchell
Saturday July 29, 2006
The Guardian
A paedophile church minister who used his social skills as a priest to groom young boys whom he subjected to sickening sex attacks was jailed for life yesterday.
Simon Thomas was told by Judge Jeremy Burford QC at Southampton crown court that he would serve a minimum of eight years in prison before being eligible for parole.
Thomas, who is 44 and married with four children, was also given a sex offenders' prevention order banning him from communicating with children. He was banned from working with children and placed on the sex offenders register for life.
Thomas, who served as a minister with the United Reformed Church in Hythe, Hants, pleaded guilty last month to 35 charges including two offences of rape against an 11-year-old boy.
UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror
By Richard Smith
PERVERTED priest Simon Thomas smirked yesterday as he was jailed for life for using internet chatrooms to groom children for sex.
The married minister - a father-of-four - admitted twice raping a boy of 11 and charges involving nine other boys under 16.
But police revealed last night that he may have claimed another 300 victims.
Thomas, 44, posed as a schoolboy in chatrooms before revealing his real age and telling children: "Age is just a number."
The respected reverend was first questioned by police in 2003 but released through lack of evidence.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 29, 2006 12:00 AM
A Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting three boys in Phoenix more than 25 years ago will be returned to Arizona to face charges.
The Rev. Joseph Henn had been living at the Salvatorian order's headquarters in Italy. The Italian high court ordered his extradition to Arizona on Thursday, according to the Catholic News Service. He should return to Arizona within 45 days.
A Maricopa County grand jury indicted Henn in 2003 on 13 counts related to child molestation. He was arrested in Rome in July 2005 and has been fighting extradition ever since. advertisement
If convicted, he would likely spend the rest of his life in prison, according to previous reports.
MESA (AZ)
KVOA
MESA, Ariz. A priest accused of 13 counts of child molestation in Phoenix between 1979 and 1981 will be extradited from Italy to Arizona.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office says Joseph Henn was indicted by a grand jury in July 2003.
Authorities launched a major investigation into decades of sexual misconduct by clergy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.
Henn is accused of molesting three boys _ ages eleven, 13 and 15 _ when he was a priest at St. Mark's Catholic Parish in Phoenix.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | July 29, 2006
Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley has agreed to meet Friday with local leaders of Voice of the Faithful, marking the first time in nearly three years that he has sat down with the lay reform group that has energized a group of active churchgoers but is viewed with skepticism by some conservatives.
O'Malley's office downplayed the significance of the meeting, and said the cardinal has not revised the Archdiocese of Boston's policy toward the group, which includes a ban on meetings in parishes by chapters formed after October 2002, when the group was first banned by Cardinal Bernard F. Law .
O'Malley last met with the national organization in November 2003 and said he would reconsider the ban, but he did not make any change.
But leaders of the organization, which was formed in Wellesley at the height of the clergy sex abuse crisis in February 2002, view the gathering as symbolically significant, in that it demonstrates O'Malley's willingness to talk with a group that has been demonized in some quarters of the church.
BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Contra Costa Times
By John Christoffersen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A priest who resigned from a church in an affluent Connecticut community misspent up to $1.4 million in parishioner donations to lead a life of luxury with another man, according to a church-directed investigation.
The Rev. Michael Jude Fay spent church money on limousines, stays at top hotels, jewelry, Italian clothing and a Florida condominium shared with the other man, auditors hired by the diocese found. About half the money he spent was kept in a secret bank account, according to their report, which was mailed Friday to 1,700 parishioners of the Darien church and obtained in advance by The Associated Press.
Bridgeport Bishop William Lori, who ordered the investigation by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, said he was shocked and angered by the findings. The report also was sent to federal authorities.
"The amount of money that was misused is tremendous," Lori said. "I think this report and other things we found out shows a real betrayal of trust and abuse of power."
SANTA ROSA (CA)
The Press Democrat
By MARTIN ESPINOZA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua said Friday his decision to investigate Catholic officials for possible violation of sex abuse reporting laws was not an about-face, but a natural evolution of the case against fugitive priest Xavier Ochoa.
"After the Ochoa matter was evaluated, then and only then did we make a request to have the Sheriff's Department investigate the mandatory reporting matter," said Passalacqua, interviewed at his Santa Rosa office.
The Rev. Xavier Ochoa, a Sonoma priest now believed to be in Mexico, is accused of 10 felony counts and one misdemeanor count of child sex abuse involving three males.
A Santa Rosa Diocese lawyer reported abuse allegations in a fax to Child Protective Services three days after Ochoa admitted sexual improprieties to Bishop Daniel Walsh and other church officials. A day later, the diocese sent the information to the Sheriff's Department.
Church critics say the delay gave Ochoa time to flee to Mexico.
JAMAICA
The Jamaica Observer
VAUGHN DAVIS, Observer staff reporter
Saturday, July 29, 2006
JAMES Rogers, 18, who is charged alongside former deacon of the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, 46-year-old Donovan Jones, for the alleged sexual assault of a 13-year old girl in the back of a van during April, was yesterday granted $500,000 bail when he appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court.
Rogers was accused of video-taping the alleged sexual abuse of the girl.
Appearing before Magistrate Desiree Alleyne, Rogers - a Haitian national - was ordered to surrender all his travel documents and his birth certificate, while a stop order was put into effect for him at all the country's ports of entry.
Rogers was also ordered to report to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station every day between the hours of 8:00 am and 8:00 pm.
CANADA
The Chronicle Herald
VANCOUVER (CP) — As legal action in the investigation into a B.C. polygamist commune looms, the province’s attorney general will be meeting with his Arizona and Utah counterparts next week to discuss the situation in their jurisdictions.
Wally Oppal said the investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at the Bountiful commune in southeastern British Columbia is continuing and may yield results soon.
"We are optimistic that something will happen soon," Oppal said. "We are really concentrating on one area and that is the area of the apparent sexual abuse and the sexual exploitation."
But, Oppal said, that does not mean the province is not concerned about allegations of polygamy at the commune just south of Creston and only metres from the U.S. border.
People at the commune are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
There have long been allegations of sexual abuse at the commune and rumours of charges against leaders of the community such as Winston Blackmore have long been whispered.
JAMAICA
Jamaic Gleaner
published: Saturday | July 29, 2006
Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter
Donovan Jones, the former Dayton Avenue church deacon, who is at the centre of the sexual molestation offence against a 14-year-old Corporate Area schoolgirl, yesterday had his stay in jail extended until September 8.
Mr. Jones, 46, was ordered remanded by Resident Magistrate Desiree Alleyne, when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court. His co-accused, 18-year-old James Rodgers, was granted bail in the sum of $500, 000 with two sureties.
Ring of four
Both men are part of a ring of four charged with molesting the schoolgirl. Jones was entrusted with the responsibility of taking her home from school.
Earlier this month, the other accused, the 18-year-old Shamar Morgan and a 15-year-old youth, both pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault. They will be sentenced on the day Mr. Jones and Mr. Rodgers return to court.
CLINTON (IA)
WOI
CLINTON, Iowa A former youth minister and reserve police officer has been sentenced to up to ten years in prison on a sexual abuse charge.
Theodore Hacker of DeWitt pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree sexual abuse and agreed to immediate sentencing. Police say he engaged in a sex act with a 14- or 15-year-old girl on or about March 1st and continuing through April 7th.
Hacker was arrested April 12th by the DeWitt Police Department. He had served as a reserve captain for the department, and was dismissed from that volunteer post after his arrest.
Two days before his arrest, he resigned as pastor of student ministries at DeWitt Evangelical Free Church.
FLORIDA
The News-Press
By Grant Boxleitner
gboxleitner@news-press.com
Originally posted on July 29, 2006
A former Fort Myers pastor stands accused of molesting at least three young boys at his home and church office, court records show.
Russell Lee Brown, 53, of 2 Kingsman Circle — the long-time pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in east Fort Myers — is one of the top-sought fugitives in Lee County, according to Trish Routte, coordinator of Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers.
Recent information from investigators suggest Brown may be in Kentucky or Atlanta. He's facing some very serious charges, and he's had ample opportunity to turn himself in, Routte said.
LIMA (OH)
Toledo Blade
LIMA, Ohio - Charles W. Daley, 80, a prominent local lawyer who volunteered for area religious, professional, and service organizations, died Monday in St. Rita's Medical Center here.
The family did not know the cause of death.
Mr. Daley, who began practicing law in Lima in 1953, was a partner in the law firm of Daley, Balyeat, Balyeat & Leahy in Lima.
In 2002, he served on a six-member board named by the Toledo Catholic Diocese to evaluate and make recommendations about allegations of sexual abuse.
MASSACHUSETTS
Adelaide Advertise
By Scott Malone in Boston
July 29, 2006 07:27am
A MASSACHUSETTS state court overnight sentenced a Roman Catholic priest to four years in prison for sexually assaulting a youth in the 1980s.
The sentencing of Father Paul Hurley, 62, is the latest black eye for the Archdiocese of Boston in a sex scandal that erupted in 2002.
The archdiocese has had to close more than 60 churches and schools after incurring millions of dollars in costs from settling lawsuits filed by people who said they had been sexually abused by priests as children.
According to a statement from the Middlesex County district attorney, Hurley assaulted a 15-year-old boy at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Cambridge, just north of Boston, in 1987 and 1988.
CALIFORNIA
ABC 30
July 28, 2006 - A former Roman Catholic priest sentenced to state prison for molesting a young boy was recently beaten up by another inmate, an attorney for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said Friday.
Michael Wempe was sentenced in May to three years in prison after a jury found him guilty of a single count of molestation. Wempe, 66, will probably spend less than a year in prison after credit for time served, prison work and good behavior.
Donald Steier, an attorney who represents priests accused of sexual abuse, said Friday that Wempe's sister told him of the assault in a recent telephone conversation.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald
Saturday, July 29, 2006 - Updated: 01:06 AM EST
A Sandwich priest was sentenced yesterday to prison time and probation in connection with a sexual assault on a child in a Cambridge church during the late 1980s, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Globe
By LeMont Calloway, Globe Correspondent | July 29, 2006
CAMBRIDGE -- A Middlesex Superior Court judge sentenced a 62-year-old Catholic priest to four years in state prison yesterday for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy nearly two decades ago, saying that the testimony portrayed ``a predator devoid of restraint."
The Rev. Paul William Hurley of Sandwich was found guilty last month of raping the South Boston boy in the rectory of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Cambridge in 1987 and 1988. Hurley paid the boy $80 to $100 for sex, knowing that he would use the money to buy drugs, authorities have said.
``Because the law presumes conclusively that a child lacks the capacity to give meaningful consent, any act of intercourse with a child is punishable as rape," said Judge Hiller B. Zobel before imposing the sentence.
Hurley's lawyer, James J. Coviello, said he had hoped for a sentence of probation, ``given the vintage of the case." He said his client planned to appeal the sentence.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Contra Costa Times
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - A former Roman Catholic priest sentenced to state prison for molesting a young boy was recently beaten up by another inmate, an attorney for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said Friday.
Michael Wempe was sentenced in May to three years in prison after a jury found him guilty of a single count of molestation. Wempe, 66, will probably spend less than a year in prison after credit for time served, prison work and good behavior.
Donald Steier, an attorney who represents priests accused of sexual abuse, said Friday that Wempe's sister told him of the assault in a recent telephone conversation.
"I've spoken to his sister who advised me that he had been beaten up and it was done by a cellmate and they removed the cellmate and Wempe was fearful for his life," Steier said. "We don't know anything more than that."
UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
By Chris Coneybeer
BBC South reporter
A judge said Thomas must serve a minimum of eight years in jail
On Friday, a former church minister who pleaded guilty to 35 counts of child abuse, including two charges of raping an 11-year-old boy, was jailed for life.
So, who can you trust?
That is the question many people found themselves asking after the revelations of one of the biggest sex abuse scandals of recent times.
Simon Thomas, 44, was a minister of the United Reformed Church, well known and well respected in the New Forest town of Hythe in Hampshire. He was also a husband and father of four.
Above suspicion, he was what is known as a "responsible adult", someone who is allowed to supervise or look after groups of children.
UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
A church minister who pleaded guilty to 35 counts of child abuse, including two charges of raping an 11-year-old boy, has been sentenced to life in prison.
The Reverend Simon Thomas, 44, of Hythe, Hampshire, admitted the charges at Southampton Crown Court.
The court heard he had used internet chatrooms to groom his victims.
A judge said Thomas, a former minister at Hythe United Reformed Church, must serve a minimum of eight years before he is eligible for parole.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun
By SUN ONLINE REPORTER
A PAEDOPHILE church minister who subjected young boys to sickening sex attacks was jailed for life today.
Simon Thomas was told by judge Jeremy Burford QC, at Southampton Crown Court, that he would serve a minimum of eight years in prison before being eligible for parole.
The 44-year-old married man with four children was also given a sex offenders prevention order banning him from communicating with children. He was also banned from working with children and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Thomas, who served as a minister with the United Reformed Church in Hythe, Hants, pleaded guilty last month to 35 charges including two offences of rape against an 11-year-old boy.
SCRANTON (PA)
KYW
(AP) SCRANTON, Pa. The Vatican has defrocked a former priest and University of Scranton instructor who admitted to charges of attempted sexual abuse and indecent assault involving a former altar boy.
The Diocese of Scranton says the dismissal means Albert Liberatore cannot function as a priest, hold parochial or administrative office in the church or teach theology in a Catholic institution.
Liberatore pleaded guilty in June to attempted sexual abuse in New York. He admitted groping a 17-year-old during an overnight trip to a New York City hotel.
Eight days earlier, Liberatore had admitted in court he had sexually assaulted the same young man in Luzerne County beginning in 1999. He was sentenced to 10 years probation in New York and had to register as a sex offender.
KENTUCKY
The Cincinnati Post
By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporters
About 50 claims for money from an $85 million settlement of allegations of sexual abuse against priests or other employees of the Diocese of Covington have been rejected as not credible, attorneys involved told a special judge Thursday.
The special masters overseeing the fund have received nearly 400 claims, Robert Steinberg told Special Judge John Potter.
Steinberg said he expects at least 300 of those to be legitimate.
No money has yet been paid out yet.
SANTA ROSA (CA)
The Press Democrat
By MARTIN ESPINOZA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
As the search for fugitive priest Xavier Ochoa moves south into Mexico, details have emerged that paint a more sinister pattern of alleged sexual abuse.
Until this week, most of the information released about the investigation has described a Sonoma Valley priest who collected pornography and frequently touched and kissed young Latino boys.
But in documents supporting the federal no-bail warrant issued this week against Ochoa, investigators say the Roman Catholic priest brought a 15-year-old boy - now an adult in his 30s - from Mexico and installed him in his diocese-owned residence where the two engaged in regular, sometimes violent, sex.
"If victim No. 3 refused to cooperate with Ochoa, Ochoa would violently rape him," wrote Sonoma County Sheriff's Detective Ruben Martinez. "Victim No. 3 thought Ochoa had sex with him two to three times a week for approximately one year.
SANTA ROSA (CA)
The Press Democrat
By MARTIN ESPINOZA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh said it didn't occur to him to immediately report to police that priest Xavier Ochoa had admitted sexual misconduct with young boys, as required by law.
Walsh said his first concern was to remove Ochoa from any contact with children and said he was not focused on making a report. It wasn't until four days after the admission that a diocese lawyer notified the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department.
By the time deputies began looking for him, Ochoa had fled. He is believed to be in Mexico.
As for calling authorities sooner, Walsh said, "It didn't even cross my mind. But when you're dealing with a crisis, you don't think about those things. I wanted to make sure that he didn't function as a priest, so he didn't have access to kids."
The Sonoma County District Attorney's Office has ordered an investigation into whether the bishop and other Roman Catholic Church officials violated the state law that requires immediate notification by telephone of sex abuse suspicions.
MASSACHUSETTS
MetroWest Daily News
By Associated Press
Friday, July 28, 2006
BOSTON -- Childhood victims of sexual abuse would have another 12 years to report the crimes under a bill passed yesterday in the Senate. The legislation would increase the statute of limitations to 27 years from its current 15, giving childhood victims until they are 43 years old to report sexual crimes. Currently, the law gives victims 15 years to report a sex-abuse crime after the victim's 16th birthday.
Supporters say the legislation is a much needed step toward better protecting children from sex offenders; though many advocates for victims of child sexual abuse were pushing for throwing out the time limit altogether.
Opponents, however, argue that limitations minimize the risk of people being wrongly convicted many years later, when evidence is scarce and memories not as sharp.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By MELODY McDONALD
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Friday morning in the trial of the Rev. Terry Hornbuckle, the charismatic minister who is accused of sexually assaulting five former members of his Arlington church.
Hornbuckle, 44, has been indicted on six charges of sexual assault, involving five women; a charge of possession of a controlled substance; a charge of tampering with a witness; and a charge of retaliation. He is expected to be tried on three of the sexual assault charges, involving three women, during his trial, which is expected to begin Wednesday morning in state District Judge Scott Wisch’s court.
Each offense is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison.
Hornbuckle, the leader of Agape Christian Fellowship, has denied all charges.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By David Abel, Globe Staff | July 28, 2006
The state Senate voted yesterday to extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse claims by 12 years, raising hopes the Legislature will send the governor a bill before it recesses for the summer.
The Senate approved a bill passed by the House late Wednesday that would increase the statute of limitations from 15 to 27 years after the accusers' 16th birthday, giving them until they are 43 to report sexual crimes.
The House bill would also require sex offenders to register at least 10 days before they leave prison, verify that they are living in a homeless shelter within 45 days of release, and, among other provisions, require the most dangerous sex offenders who fail to register to submit to lifetime community parole supervision.
``We feel that we've passed the most sweeping sex offender legislation since the inception of the sex offender registry," said Representative Tom Golden, a Lowell Democrat who has been one of the bill's main supporters. ``We're closing loopholes, increasing penalties, and expanding the opportunities for prosecutions. It's all done to protect our citizens from these heinous crimes."
KENTUCKY
LEX 18
A Clark County man has been arrested and charged with sex crimes against a 14-year-old boy, and police say there may be other victims .
Mark Myers, 44, faces four felony charges, including sodomy. Police say Myers befriended boys at church and over time, lead sex-oriented group gatherings in his home. Finally a teen told a relative about the gatherings, launching the police investigation.
KENTUCKY
The Winchester Sun
By TIM WELDON/Sun Staff Writer Thursday, July 27, 2006 1:01 PM EDT
A Clark County man faces several criminal charges accusing him of sexually abusing an underage boy.
Mark Alan Myers, 44, of 1120 Old Ruckerville Road was charged on Wednesday with third-degree sodomy, first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor, promoting a sexual performance by a minor and use of a minor in a sexual performance.
All the charges filed so far against Myers involve one alleged victim, who was 14 years old when the abuse allegedly began in 1998, according to Capt. Arlen Horton of the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
Horton said he expects to charge Myers with at least 25 additional felony counts involving approximately 10 juveniles between the ages of 12 and 17.
According to Horton, Myers befriended most of the boys through his work at a church, which Horton declined to name.
SOUTH AFRICA
African News Dimension
July 28, 2006,
By ANDnetwork.com
A pastor of a pentecostal church in Moyo district, Uganda is on the run over allegations that he defiled 12 refugee children.
Moses Lodiyo, a teacher at Lema Primary School in a Sudanese refugee settlement, is alleged to have seduced his pupils with gifts. The biggest population of the school are Sudanese refugees whose families fled southern Sudan over insecurity.
“A shocking report was made at the Moyo police station recently implicating Lodiyo in sexual abuse of 12 girls at Lema Primary,” the north-western regional police commander, Francis Makmot-Okello told journalists on Wednesday 26 July 2006. Makmot-Okello said the pastor used to reportedly demand for sex from his victims in exchange for scholastic materials.
CLINTON (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Steven Martens | Friday, July 28, 2006
CLINTON, Iowa — A former DeWitt youth minister and reserve police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to a sexual abuse charge and was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Theodore Lee Hacker, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree sexual abuse for engaging in a sex act with a 14- or 15-year-old girl on or about March 1 and continuing through April 7.
He agreed to immediate sentencing before Clinton County District Judge David Sivright, who denied a request for probation.
Hacker was arrested April 12 by the DeWitt Police Department, for which he had served as a reserve captain. He was dismissed from that volunteer post after his arrest.
Hacker resigned as pastor of student ministries at DeWitt Evangelical Free Church two days before his arrest.
GRENADA (MS)
Clarion-Ledger
By Sara McAdory
sara.mcadory@clarionledger.com
The pastor of a Grenada church is accused of molesting a teenage boy, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the boy's mother. The family also is seeking damages from the church for "concealing the sexual molestation of young minor boys," according to the lawsuit.
The suit accuses the Rev. Perry L. Montgomery, 72, pastor of First New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Grenada, of fondling the boy in April when he was 14. The Clarion-Ledger does not identify victims of alleged sexual abuse.
Montgomery did not return calls left at his home and office, and the attorney listed as the church's agent of record is deceased, a church receptionist said.
First New Hope is a member of theAbuse Tracker Baptist Convention USA, the largest African-American denomination with 7.5 million members.
BURLINGTON (KY)
Louisville Courier-Journal
By Brett Barrouquere
Associated Press
BURLINGTON, Ky. — Names of sexual-abuse victims involved in a class-action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington will have to be turned over to prosecutors, a judge said yesterday.
After a contentious two-hour hearing in Boone Circuit Court, Judge John Potter said he would let his order to disclose the names stand despite the objections of attorneys.
The issue of turning over the identities of victims arose earlier this month when Potter ordered attorneys to turn over to prosecutors the identities of more than 300 victims.
The names of the victims would not be made public unless it is necessary, Potter wrote.
NEW YORK
Troy Record
The indictment against a former area priest for the sexual abuse of a local boy more than 20 years ago brings up a topic that needs closer inspection by lawmakers.
The names of the priest and of his alleged victim are not important in the context of what has us puzzled, which is this:
Why, with all the technological advances in criminology, is there still a statute of limitations on brutal crimes or, for that matter, at all?
There was a time when the law, while maddening, made sense. Trials of cases from more than 20 years in the past were hard to conduct, as they relied strictly on faulty memories or evidence that was deteriorating due to age. Today's advances make that concern antiquated.
SCRANTON (PA)
Times Leader
By DAVE JANOSKI djanoski@leader.net
The Vatican’s decision to remove admitted child molester Albert M. Liberatore Jr. from the priesthood is a rare and severe punishment for the former Duryea pastor, a step one church observer said is “analogous to the death penalty.”
Liberatore is serving 10 years’ probation for sexually abusing a teenage boy from 1999 through 2004, beginning when the boy was 13. The victim has sued Liberatore and officials from the Scranton Diocese in federal court, alleging the diocese was aware of abuse allegations against Liberatore in 2000, but took no meaningful action until 2004.
Liberatore’s removal or “laicization,” is a “fairly rare step” usually “reserved for the most serious and most egregious violations,” said John L. Allen Jr., senior correspondent in Rome for theAbuse Tracker , an independent newsweekly sold in 96 countries. “It’s the supreme penalty under canon law. It’s fairly rarely invoked.”
Only 72 of the 2,902 priests accused of sexual abuse listed in an online database maintained by the independent, nonprofit group BishopAccountabilty.org have been laicized. All but 11 of the laicizations occurred after American bishops set up new, stricter guidelines for handling such allegations in 2002.
BURLINGTON (KY)
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY JIM HANNAH | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
BURLINGTON - Lawyers clashed with a judge Thursday about whether giving authorities names of sexual abuse victims suing the Covington Diocese is a betrayal of trust.
The victim's attorneys argued that Special Judge John Potter's order violated the promise of anonymity given to more than 300 people seeking to collect an $84 million settlement with the diocese.
Potter didn't rule on a request to tear up his order, leaving it unclear when he might try to enforce it, something the victims' attorney vowed to fight in appeals court.
Potter said the goal of his order was to make sure the perpetrators are brought to justice - not to out sex-abuse victims.
"This is not about reporting the victims," Potter said. "This is about reporting the perpetrators. The focus of the order is to bring the perpetrators to the attention of the prosecutorial authorities."
SOUTH AFRICA
Mail & Guardian
Pearlie Joubert
28 July 2006 07:59
The Catholic Church in South Africa is currently investigating at least 24 incidents of sexual abuse by priests -- 12 cases in Cape Town alone. Some of these are “historical cases” and happened years ago. In most of them, the victims were children when the sexual abuse took place.
Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) general secretary Father Vincent Brennan said this week: “We do recognise that there is a problem. We don’t see this as a Catholic problem, though -- it’s a problem in our society. As far as I know, 4% of the adult male population internationally abuse children. Our levels of abuse in South Africa are higher. The church is very worried. There is no room in the Catholic priesthood for anyone who abuses the young.”
Last Friday a retired Catholic priest, James McCauley (65), was involved in a fatal car accident in Cape Town four days after he appeared in court on charges of sexual abuse and indecent assault of children. McCauley’s trial was due to take place at the end of September.
Numerous claims of sexual misconduct had been made against him throughout his career. At one stage the church sent him to the United States for psychological help.
ALABAMA
WALA
7/27/2006
Fox 10 News has uncovered new information about a Catholic priest deputies want to talk to, but say they can't find.
When Father Tim Evans arrived at St. Margaret's Catholic Church in Bayou La Batre, longtime church member Henry Barnes said he went to welcome him at the church's rectory. "He was putting down a little patio. Him and some young boys," Barnes said. "I noticed they were drinking beer. They were in their teens. They weren't old enough to drink. "
In the months that followed, Barnes said he saw strange things from his post at the top of the town's drawbridge. Barnes worked there as the bridge tender at that time. "There'd be 20 or 30 of them over there. Mostly boys staying in the rectory with him," he said.
BURLINGTON (KY)
Kentucky.com
Associated Press
BURLINGTON, Ky. - Names of sexual abuse victims involved in a class-action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington will have to be turned over to prosecutors, a judge said Thursday.
Judge John Potter said he would let a previous order to disclose the names stand despite the objections of attorneys.
Attorney Stan Chesley, who represents the victims, argued Thursday that giving the names to prosecutors could result in them becoming public. He said that might lead to victims being unwilling to participate in the case.
CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times
FOR MORE THAN three decades, officials at Salesian High in Richmond insisted that a former altar boy who claimed to have been sexually abused by one of the priests at the school was making it all up.
Last week, however, a Contra Costa jury disagreed. It awarded $600,000 to Joey Piscitelli, a 50-year-old Martinez man who testified that the Rev. Stephen Whelan, a teacher and vice principal, abused him during his freshman and sophomore years from 1969 to 1971.
Piscitelli is now a coordinator for an organization called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
That such a group even exists -- and that it has members all over the country -- is in itself an abomination.
Piscitelli's story is sickeningly familiar. A priest who is supposed to be teaching children how to become moral citizens, instead uses his position of trust to abuse minor children.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Irish Times
Management at Gormanston College was aware of abuse perpetrated by Fr Ronald Bennett but did not remove him from his post, it has emerged.
Complaints were made against the Franciscan priest in 1973 to a member of management at the college in Co Meath by the parents of one of the boys he abused. The parents were given assurances that the priest would no longer be allowed to be alone with boys, but he continued abusing until 1981.
Bennett was yesterday given a five-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to six sample charges of indecent assault of boys at the college.
The boys abused by him were summoned to his office over a tannoy system and waited outside until a set of "traffic lights" turned to green and signalled that they could enter.
CROSSVILLE (TN)
WATE
July 26, 2006
By ERICA ESTEP
6 News Reporter
CROSSVILLE (WATE) -- Cumberland County Minister Benji Persinger was in court Wednesday answering to charges he fondled a 14-year-old child while members of his church youth group were at his house.
Before the hearing, Persinger sat in silence with his arm around his wife for support. Just a few feet away sat his accuser, a 14-year-old girl, with her Mom and a friend.
The court room was so quiet you could hear the floor creaking and the sniffles of the accuser. When the girl took the witness stand, she described through her tears what happened at Persinger's home on February 26.
"He was talking about how nice our bodies were and what a cute butt I had," she said.
INDIA
Zee News
Kochi, July 27: Sabarimala Thantri Kantararu Mohanaru, who was sacked as head priest of the temple for his alleged involvement in immoral activities, today lashed out at the Travancore Devaswom Board for ousting him and said the whole episode was a fallout of the 'Devaprasnam' conducted recently at the shrine.
"The board had no right to sack me from the post," the priest told a TV channel here. Mohanaru said he suspected a conspiracy to "trap and defame" him.
He said the whole episode was a fallout of the 'Devaprasnam' (astrological examination of temple affairs) during which he had opposed certain atonement rituals.
Meanwhile, IG (South Zone) Arun Kumar Sinha reviewed the progress of the investigation with top police officials here.
BURLINGTON (KY)
WHAS
BURLINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Lawyers for victims of a class-action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington are fighting a judge’s order to have the victims’ names turned over to prosecutors.
The victims reached an $84 million settlement with the Covington Diocese in January. The settlement covers 361 victims who claim they were abused over a period of 50 years by priests in a diocese that once included 57 counties across a large swath of Kentucky.
Lawyers for the victims were expected to appear in court on Boone Circuit Court on Thursday to contest an order filed by Special Judge John Potter.
PENNSYLVANIA
Bishop Accountability
By Dave Janoski djanoski@leader.net
Times Leader
July 9, 2006
Advocates for victims of abuse by priests say Catholic Church secrecy and state law combine to deny victims their day in court.
It often takes decades for victims to come to terms with the abuse and come forward, they say. And if the abuse occurred in the 20th Century—before a recent state law that gives victims until age 30 to pursue a civil case—their legal options are closed.
"I'm not out for money," said one alleged victim, speaking on condition of anonymity because some of his relatives aren't aware of his abuse allegations. "I want to make sure no child has to suffer what I went through.
"If the statute of limitations is lifted, I have options."
PENNSYLVANIA
Bishop Accountability
[Wilkes-Barre PA] Times Leader
July 9, 2006
At least 25 priests in the Scranton Diocese have been accused of sexual misconduct involving minors since 1950, according to a diocesan report. The diocese has never identified all of the accused, but some of their names have become public because of arrests, lawsuits or their removal from ministerial duties. The Times Leader has been able to identify 11 priests accused of sexual misconduct, including three deceased priests whose cases have never received widespread publicity.
In two of the 11 cases, priests have been removed from active ministry for what the diocese calls "sexual misconduct" or improper conduct," but the ages of their accusers when the conduct occurred have never been revealed.
Typically, priests who have been proven to have abused children are forbidden to say Mass for others or to dress or act as a priest in public. But they remain priests.
BLANCO (TX)
CBS 2
(CBS 42) BLANCO COUNTY After accusations of sexual assault against a child at a hill country monastery, five monks sit behind bars accused in the crimes.
One has been released under strict guidelines.
The investigation centers around five monks from the Christ of the Hills monastery in Blanco County.
The lead detectives with the sheriff's office say this investigation is far from over. He believes there may be more victims and more indictments as well.
Three of the indicted monks, William Edward Hughs, Walter Paul Christly, Hugh Brian Fallon, are behind bars at the Blanco County jail.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
July 26, 2006
BOSTON --House lawmakers voted Wednesday to extend the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse by 12 years.
Under the bill, which now moves to the Senate, the statute of limitations would be increased to 27 years from its current 15, giving childhood victims until they are 43 years old to report sexual crimes.
"The passage of this legislation in the House today is a good, solid step toward better protecting Massachusetts residents, specifically our children, from sex offenders," said Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading.
Opponents, however, argue that limitations minimize the risk of people being wrongly convicted many years later, when evidence is scarce and memories not as sharp.
Advocates for victims of child sexual abuse had pushed for lifting the statute of limitations completely, saying it sometimes takes decades for victims to face the abuse they suffered as children.
The state's four Catholic bishops have endorsed extending the statute of limitations, as has Attorney General Tom Reilly, who supports eliminating the time limit altogether. The clergy abuse scandal was the impetus for the legislation.
UNITED STATES
FindLaw
By MARCI HAMILTON
hamilton02@aol.com
Thursday, Jul. 27, 2006
The United States is in the midst of a civil rights movement for children, and not a moment too soon. Not long ago, children were, in effect, treated as their parents' property, and the law did little to protect them from harm. Today, however, there is increasing legislative movement in their interest, and in particular to protect them from violent crimes. But there is still a long path to travel.
On Tuesday, July 25, the House sent President Bush the "Adam Walsh Bill," which institutes a national database of convicted child molesters, increases penalties for sexual and violent offenses against children, and creates a RICO cause of action for child predators and those who conspire with them. (For more on the potential uses of RICO - the federal Racketeering-Influenced Corrupt Organizations statute -- to combat conspiracies fostering child abuse, see my prior column on the possibility of using the statute against churches that covered up abuse and transferred abusing clergy.)
The bill was backed by John Walsh, of "America's Most Wanted" fame. In 1981, Walsh's six-year-old son Adam was kidnapped and killed. Walsh subsequently founded theAbuse Tracker Center for Missing and Exploited Children and dedicated his life to the protection of children. To Walsh's credit, his personal nightmare and what he learned from it have led to great public benefit.
JAMAICA
RJR
Another attempt will be made Wednesday to get bail for the former church deacon and a teenager at the centre of the sex abuse case.
Their lawyer, Paul Beswick is expected to make bail applications when the case comes up in court.
The attorney is also expected to cross-examine two policemen from the Half Way Tree police station who arrested the deacon.
Tuesday the attorney questioned the arresting officers during the trial which was held in camera.
The former church deacon, Donavon Jones, and the teenager, James Rogers, are charged with nine counts of indecent assault, three counts of assault with intent to rape and one count of aiding and abetting indecent assault.
BLANCO (TX)
American-Statesman
By Miguel Liscano
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, July 27, 2006
BLANCO — Bill Elsbury sat in a pickup Wednesday afternoon outside the entrance to the Christ of the Hills monastery, where the television vans had gathered again.
Seven years ago, an investigation headed by Elsbury, the Blanco County sheriff, had brought camera crews to the hilltop monastery when its founder and another monk were accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy.
Father Jeremiah went to prison. Father Benedict got 10 years of probation and returned to the monastery, where the monks carried on and the pilgrims continued to visit the weeping icon of the Virgin Mary.
Elsbury said Wednesday that he thought there were more victims but that he couldn't prove it in 1999. So he waited.
"As far as we're concerned, our investigation into their behavior and this type of criminal conduct . . . never ceased," Elsbury said.
TEXAS
Houston Chronicle
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — A bishop said he was troubled by seeing a boy dressed as a monk at a Central Texas monastery where five men have been accused of child sexual assault charges, but he was told the boy's presence was "our tradition."
Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church Bishop Michael Jachimczyk said he visited the Christ of the Hills Monastery near Blanco once or twice a year in the 1990s and sometimes saw the boy roaming the grounds.
"It was something that always bothered me," said Jachimczyk, who didn't know if the boy he saw is the one who was allegedly sexually assaulted.
CANADA
London Free Press
By APRIL KEMICK, FREE PRESS REPORTER
A former Chatham minister faces sex abuse charges after a lengthy police investigation into a complaint dating back more than 30 years.
Robert James Duthie, 67, a retired minister who now lives in the Cambridge area, is charged with one count each of gross indecency and sexual assault, Chatham-Kent police said yesterday.
The charges against the former Victoria Avenue United Church minister stemmed from a police investigation sparked in February when a man filed a complaint with police.
The man told police the assaults started in 1975 when he was 12 years old and continued for seven years, Insp. George Flikweert said yesterday.
The complainant was a member of Victoria Avenue United Church, Flikweert said.
JAMAICA
Jamaica Gleaner
published: Thursday | July 27, 2006
Former Church Dayton Diamond Ridge deacon, Donovan Jones, and his co-accused James Rodgers are to return to the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court for the third time in three days today.
Yesterday defence attorney Paul Beswick cross-examined another of the arresting officers involved in the sexual assault case related to a 13-year-old schoolgirl. The questioning of the police was centred around the events leading to Jones arrest on July 5.
The police said they saw Jones in the church, which was closed, but by the time they got inside he was gone. Jones was arrested at his home off Waltham Park Road. The defence is contending, however, that Jones was not at the church when the police arrived.
BURLINGTON (KY)
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY JIM HANNAH | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
BURLINGTON - The names of victims collecting money in the $84 million sex abuse settlement with the Covington Diocese may be turned over to authorities.
The victims' attorneys plan to argue in court today that their clients were promised anonymity when they joined the nation's only class-action suit against a Roman Catholic Diocese.
The legal wrangling comes after Senior Judge John Potter ordered the names to be turned over to prosecutors.
Kentucky law requires sex-abuse allegations be forwarded to police, Potter wrote in the order.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
NBC 4
LOS ANGELES -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles may be ordered to review its personnel files on priests to find reported cases of sexual abuse, according to a tentative ruling Wednesday.
The decision by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholz would enable alleged victims to discover if priests had other accusers, and if officials were aware of the allegations. Those determinations could affect damages awarded to victims.
"The court is saying that we're out to get information from all alleged perpetrators since 1930," said plaintiffs attorney Anthony M. De Marco. "The court is coming on the side of saying the plaintiffs need to gather information here."
To determine if the personnel files are relevant, and if any privacy issues exist, the documents may be reviewed by a third party, Fromholz said.
CANADA
CFRA
Gord McDougall
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
The public inquiry into Cornwall's sexual abuse allegations enters a new phase with the announcement of an advisory committee to help the community to heal.
The first phase (investigating claims of child sexual abuse and the response by the justice system of the day) continues, but this phase two reaches out to the community.
Local community and business leader and Gail Kaneb is the lone local member on the advisory panel, which also includes former RCMP Commissioner Philip Murray, Jesuit priest Father John Loftus from Boston, clinical psychologist Dr. Peter Jaffe, and Eganville consensus building specialist Dr. Benjamin Hoffman.
BLANCO (TX)
Express-News
Web Posted: 07/27/2006 01:07 AM CDT
Zeke MacCormack
Express-News Staff Writer
BLANCO — With most of its monks incarcerated, the nearly deserted Christ of the Hills Monastery was left to pets and journalists Wednesday.
Its famed "weeping icon" was seized with computers and other evidence Tuesday by law enforcement officers who also arrested three of the four monks living at the enclave on charges of sexual assault of a child and organized crime.
Also indicted Monday were the monastery's founder, Sam A. Greene Jr., who's been staying in Austin because of poor health, and Jonathan Hitt, a former monk already serving time for a separate abuse conviction.
Doors on offices and homes at the vacant monastery were unlocked. Some stood open.
Meanwhile, in nearby Blanco, residents read news accounts and traded rumors about the latest scandal to envelop the mysterious men in black who opened the monastery outside town in 1981.
SANTA ROSA (CA)
Monterey County Herald
Associated Press
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Federal authorities issued a no-bail arrest warrant Wednesday for a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing three boys and believed to have fled to Mexico.
Father Francisco Xavier Ochoa, 68, is wanted for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on 10 felonies, including lewd acts with a child, forcible sodomy and oral copulation.
Ochoa was suspended from the Diocese of Santa Rosa in April after admitting an incident of sexual misconduct with a 12-year-old altar boy. Bishop Daniel Walsh didn't notify law enforcement until three days later, giving Ochoa time to flee to Mexico, authorities said.
Ochoa also had confessed to molesting two other boys more than 10 years ago, authorities said.
CANADA
CNW
CORNWALL, ON, July 26 /CNW Telbec/ - Justice G. Normand Glaude,
Commissioner of the Cornwall Public Inquiry, today announced the appointment
of the members of the Cornwall Inquiry Advisory Panel.
The panel will play an important role in the Inquiry's Phase 2 mandate to
foster a healing environment for the Cornwall community. Panel members will
work with Inquiry staff to: ensure a strong research agenda supportive of the
Inquiry's work; give thorough consideration of policy issues and options in a
holistic, multi-disciplinary environment; and provide opportunities for public
and professional input germane to Phase 2 recommendations and activities.
As the activities in Phase 2 will generally occur outside the formal
hearing processes, some panel members will be active in reaching out to
communities within Cornwall to understand the community's perspective on its
needs. Panel members expect to consult with those who have experienced
childhood sexual abuse as well as with community professionals in order to
find ways to optimize positive opportunities in the areas of healing and
reconciliation for the future.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post
By Joanne Kenen
Reuters
Tuesday, July 25, 2006; 5:31 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval on Tuesday to bipartisan legislation cracking down on sexual predators and child abuse.
The Senate approved the bill last week and sponsors expect President George W. Bush to sign it on Thursday, the 25th anniversary of the murder of six-year old Adam Walsh, for whom the bill is named.
"This important measure will arm our states and local communities with the tools they need to combat the threats posed by sex offenders and violent criminals," Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said.
BLANCO (TX)
KXAN
There's more information Tuesday night on a criminal case against members of an Austin-area monastery.
The case involves child molestation and what detectives call "organized crime" at the Christ of the Hills Monastery, off County Road 103 in Blanco County. Sexual assault, child pornography, drugs and even mail fraud are alleged to have taken place there.
KXAN spoke with one of the monks facing child sex charges. He says he's getting his strength from God. Cops in Blanco County say that he's going to need it.
BLANCO (TX)
KLTV
BLANCO, Texas Law enforcement officials raided a hilltop monastery near Blanco in Central Texas this morning after getting indictments accusing five monks of sexually assaulting a boy there about 13 years ago.
The Blanco County Sheriff's Office and federal investigators continued to search this evening, K-X-A-N television station in Austin reports.
Samuel A- Greene Junior, the 61-year-old founder of the Christ of the Hills Monastery, was among those charged with sexual assault of a child and engaging in organized crime relating to the assault. That's according to Blanco County Sheriff Bill Elsbury.
BLANCO (TX)
WOAI
LAST UPDATE: 7/25/2006 10:15:13 PM
Posted By: Walker Robinson
This story is available on your cell phone at mobile.woai.com.
Law enforcement officials raided a hilltop monastery near Blanco in Central Texas this morning after getting indictments accusing five monks of sexually assaulting a boy there about 13 years ago.
The Blanco County Sheriff's Office and federal investigators continued to search this evening, according to reports.
Samuel A. Greene Junior, the 61-year-old founder of the Christ of the Hills Monastery, was among those charged with sexual assault of a child and engaging in organized crime relating to the assault. That's according to Blanco County Sheriff Bill Elsbury.
Greene -- who also faces one count of sexual performance with a child -- was already on probation after pleading guilty in 2000 to nine counts of indecency with a novice monk.
The sheriff says that the current investigation began a year ago after Greene reportedly admitted that he'd sexually assaulted several children more than a decade ago at the monastery.
BLANCO (TX)
KVUE
10:31 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 25, 2006
KVUE News
Several agencies raided a Blanco County monastery Tuesday.
Local, state and federal agents executed a search warrant Tuesday at the Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco County.
Walter Paul Christley, 44, also known as father Pangratios, was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity.
BLANCO (TX)
American-Statesman
By Joshunda Sanders
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
The founder of Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco County and three other monks were arrested Tuesday on charges of sexual assault of a child and organized crime, according to the Blanco County sheriff's office.
A fifth monk, imprisoned in Beaumont on a previous sexual assault conviction, also was charged in the case Tuesday.
William Edward Hughes, 55, known as Father Vasilli; Walter Paul Christley, 44, known as Father Pangratios; and Hugh Brian Fallon, 40, known as Father Tihkon; were arrested at the church in the 2400 block of Trainer Wuest Road, police said. They were being held at the Blanco County Jail on Tuesday night. Officials said their bail amounts would be set by a judge Wednesday morning.
Founder Samuel Alexander Greene Jr., 61, was arrested Tuesday afternoon when he returned to the monastery after visiting a nursing home in Austin, Blanco County authorities said. He was charged with sexual assault of a child, organized criminal activity/sexual assault of a child and sexual performance of a child. Officials said Greene was released on bail Tuesday.
Jonathan Irving Hitt, a 45-year-old monk who was charged Tuesday with sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity, is serving a 10-year sentence for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old novice monk. He was convicted in 1999 on eight counts of indecency with a child. The novice, who was 14 when the accusations were made, said he had been molested by Hitt and Greene.
JAMAICA
Jamaica Gleaner
published: Wednesday | July 26, 2006
Donovan Jones, the former Dayton Avenue church deacon and his co-accused, 18 year-old James Rodgers, were yesterday remanded in custody by Resident Magistrate Deseree Alleyne when they appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.
Both men face court again today.
INDIA
NDTV
NDTV Correspondent
Wednesday, July 26, 2006 (Thiruvananthapuram):
Sacked Sabarimala priest Kantarau Mohanaru has charged the Ernakulam police range DIG Padmakumar of creating a controversy by making his complaint public without conducting a proper investigation.
Mohanaru had been sacked over an alleged sexual liaison. However, he has argued that the entire incident was a conspiracy.
Now, the police have arrested some of the people that the priest has accused of framing him.
The priest who was earlier expected to speak to the media in Kochi did not turn up for the press conference and entrusted his lawyers to speak on his behalf and clarify his position.
GEORGIA
Macon Telegraph
By Liz Fabian
TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
A 22-year-old Laurens County man who served as a volunteer church youth worker is accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl he met at the church.
A Bibb County grand jury returned a four-count indictment Tuesday charging Matthew Garland Lee with two counts of aggravated child molestation, and one count each of statutory rape and child molestation.
Lee, an emergency medical technician with The Medical Center of Central Georgia, was volunteering at Vineville United Methodist Church when the alleged molestations took place between March 3 and April 29, according to a Macon police incident report.
The victim's mother confronted Lee after first learning he had sex with her 14-year-old daughter, but he begged her not to say anything, the report stated.
BLANCO (TX)
Expess-News
Web Posted: 07/25/2006 11:58 PM CDT
Zeke MacCormack
Express-News Staff Writer
BLANCO — A bid by Samuel Greene Jr. to clear his conscience instead implicated the controversial founder of Christ of the Hills Monastery and four followers in alleged sexual assaults of two boys there in the 1990s, authorities say.
Dozens of local, state and federal investigators swept into the religious enclave at dawn Tuesday with indictments returned Monday and a warrant to search the 105-acre site for evidence of sexual misconduct, said Blanco County Sheriff Bill Elsbury.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's a complete fraud," he said of the monastery that opened in 1981 and housed a so-called "weeping icon" that once attracted thousands of pilgrims each week.
An affidavit filed in support of a search warrant quotes Greene, who's on probation for indecency with a novice monk in 1997, as admitting he'd molested untold numbers of boys since the 1970s.
VERMONT
Times Argus
July 26, 2006
By Kevin O'Connor Rutland Herald
Vermont's Catholic Church has lost its fight to bar a judge from presiding over 22 upcoming priest misconduct lawsuits.
The statewide Diocese of Burlington had sought the removal of Chittenden Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph from its cases after he oversaw a record $965,000 settlement in an initial lawsuit this spring.
But the state's chief administrative judge, Amy Davenport, denied the church's request Tuesday after reviewing court videotape of Joseph's dealings with the diocese.
"While the diocese may disagree with Judge Joseph's legal analysis, and while the rulings were adverse to the diocese, there is no indication that the decisions were based on favoritism towards the plaintiff or antagonism towards the diocese," Davenport wrote in a 10-page decision.
VERMONT
Burlington Free Press
Published: Wednesday, July 26, 2006
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
An administrative judge ruled Tuesday that Judge Ben Joseph has not shown bias against the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese and can continue to preside over 22 priest abuse cases pending in Chittenden County Superior Court.
The diocese, after settling a sex-abuse claim brought by a South Burlington man for $965,000 in April, had sought Joseph's removal as the presiding judge, claiming his pre-trial decisions in the case were unfair to the church. The removal request was the subject of a July 5 hearing before Judge Amy Davenport.
"If anything, Judge Joseph bent over backward to provide both parties with a fair opportunity to be heard and exhibited remarkable patience in dealing with the myriad issues raised by this case," Davenport wrote in her 10-page decision.
IRELAND
Tuam Herald
A 71-year-old priest who sexually abused four pupils at Gormanston College in Meath has escaped a prison sentence.
Ronald Bennett, of Dun Mhuire, Seafield Road in Killiney, a spiritual advisor at the school, pleaded guilty to the six sample charges of indecent assault against him.
The abuse took place between 1974 and 1981 when Fr Bennett would call the victims over the intercom to his office, which they entered when the light outside turned green.
UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Online
By Simon Caldwell
7/25/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
LONDON - A former altar boy who says he was abused by a priest has written a comic book to help to educate churchgoers about clerical sexual misconduct.
The man says that as a child he suffered a series of indecent assaults at the hands of John Lloyd, a former parish priest in Treforest, who was sentenced to eight years in jail in 1998 for a series of sexual offenses.
Writing under the pseudonym Martin O'Shea, the author uses his own experiences to unveil a "perception of scenarios" likely to occur following a complaint of abuse.
In the comic book, "The Least Among Us," O'Shea and illustrator Tony Wright tell a story of how a fictional bishop tries to deal with a clerical abuse scandal.
The comic, which will be published by Ascendant Press Aug. 21, follows the classic comic strip genre. Some of the cartoons show priests breaking the news to the bishop that a priest has been accused, and others show the bishop taking hostile questions from journalists at a press conference.
JOHNSON CITY (TX)
CBS 42
(CBS 42) JOHNSON CITY Five priests at the Christ of Hills Monastery in Blanco County have been charged with sexual assault of a child.
According to the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office, William Hughes--also known as Father Vasili; Walter Christley--also known as Father Pangratios; Hugh Brian Fallon--also known as Father Tihkon; Samuel Alexander Greene, Jr.--also known as Father Benedict and Jonathan Hitt--also known as Father Jeremiah have been charged with sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity.
Greene and Hitt are also charged with sexual performance of a child.
Greene is the founder of the monastery. In 2000 he pleaded guilty to sexual abuse charges of a minor, and was sentenced to 10 years of probation.
IRELAND
Catholic Online
By Cian Molloy
7/25/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
DUBLIN, Ireland - Ireland's Residential Institutions Redress Board has received more than 14,500 claims for compensation from people who say they suffered physical abuse or neglect while residing in industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages and other institutions.
Most of these institutions were managed by Catholic religious orders, but because they were subject to state regulation and inspection, the Irish government admitted liability and established the board as a means by which survivors of abuse or neglect could seek and gain compensation without having to go to court and undergo cross-examination.
According to the board's annual report for 2005, published in mid-July, more than a third of last year's applications for compensation were received in the final two weeks before the Dec. 15 deadline.
INDIA
Zee News
Thiruvananthapuram, July 25: Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Tuesday asked the state intelligence to provide all details of the controversial case involving Sabarimala priest Kantararu Mohanaru, who has been stripped of his powers.
The Additional Director General of Police in charge intelligence has been asked to examine the complaints lodged by the `Tantri` (priest) with the police and the investigations into them, Balakrishnan told a press meet here.
In a new scandal involving the Sabarimala shrine, one of its priests, Kandararu Mohanaru, was yesterday stripped of his status after police found he had lodged a false complaint about being attacked and forcibly photographed with a woman in Kochi. The police have said the priest used to visit the woman frequently, shrine sources said.
INDIA
NDTV
Gilvester, Nandagopal
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 (Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram):
When Sabarimala chief priest Kantaru Mohanaru admitted to the police that he did visit a woman in this Kochi flat, he simplified their job.
But they are also tracking down the five men who he claimed tricked him into posing with the women.
"We are looking for five people who were involved we are expected to do that very soon," said Padmakumar, DIG, Ernakulam Range.
But Ayyappa devotees across the state who defended the priest during the Jayamala episode feel betrayed.
"Of course yes. Who will not get disturbed? A person holding such a high position and indulging in such immoral activities! This is unpardonable," said one devotee.
"Now the board should ensure that such people do not reach such high positions. They should be prevented from entering the holy places," said another.
QUINCY (IL)
Quincy Herald Whig
By Steve Eighinger
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
Quincy will soon lose another Catholic church when the St. Dominic and St. Anthony parishes combine.
There is no specific timetable for the union of the two parishes, but the Rev. Tom Hagstrom, pastor of both St. Dominic and St. Anthony for the past year, said he would not rule out the consolidation becoming official before the end of the year.
Hagstrom said Bishop George Lucas of the Diocese of Springfield is a proponent of the consolidation. Hagstrom said Lucas expressed why he thought it would be beneficial to both parishes when he visited Quincy for a meeting earlier this year involving about 150 representatives from both parishes. ...
"What we are seeing in the Catholic Church is the next great shortage — a shortage of parishioners, and it is really affecting rural areas and small cities like Quincy," Hagstrom said. "This is going on in every diocese. This is reality."
Along with smaller families and a fall-off in regular church attendance, Hagstrom said there is another factor in the ongoing closings of Catholic facilities. He firmly believes the 2002 abuse scandal within the church has played a major role.
"What happened in 2002 was actually a revelation of a lot of things that had been going on and had been covered up," Hagstrom said. "Many took great offense in priests everywhere who had been involved in very criminal and very serious sin, and that (sexual) predators had been tolerated.
LANTANA (FL)
Miami Herald
By AMY SHERMAN
asherman@MiamiHerald.com
The Rev. Neil Doherty, a retired priest who prosecutors say drugged and raped a young boy in the 1990s, can move into his own apartment, a judge decided today. Broward Circuit Judge Susan Lebow gave Doherty, 64, permission to move into an apartment in Lantana, in Palm Beach County.
Assistant State Attorney Dennis Siegel, however, said Doherty should not be allowed to move because he will be living alone. Currently, he lives with his sister in Palm Beach County.
For now, Doherty will have to wear the electronic ankle monitor he has worn since posting bond earlier this year.
NEW YORK
The Village Voice
by Kristen Lombardi
July 25th, 2006 11:19 AM
Abe vividly remembers that wall. The "bragging wall," as he's come to call it, was crammed with certificates and diplomas. He remembers fixating on that wall as the Hasidic psychologist advised him on how to be a good boy. He fixated on it, too, when the psychologist sat beside him, the man's hand shoved down his pants, stroking Abe's genitals.
Abe was eight years old, the defiant son of a devout Orthodox Jewish family who was sent to the child psychologist in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Every Sunday for four months in 1984, he'd go for counseling in the modest house on 60th Street. Sessions started with talk of his behavior—his mischief at home, his disobedience at yeshiva. Goals were set, rewards promised. Then, Abe alleges, the psychologist's hand would be in his underwear.
"He would fondle and play with my genitals," says Abe, now a thirtyish businessman not willing to publish his last name. For this former Borough Park resident, whose Orthodox faith taught him to revere elders, the encounters were devastating. "I felt very odd, ashamed. I didn't know what to think."
Abe hid the abuse for two decades, not telling a soul, yearning to get on with life. Until, in May, he discovered what had happened to the man he claims molested him: He got away.
NORTH CAROLINA
Wilson Daily
By Eddie Fitzgerald Daily Times Staff Writer
A former minister charged with 98 counts of incest pleaded no contest Monday in Wilson County Superior Court to eight counts of felonious incest. All other charges were dropped.
Nathaniel Rasberry, 36, of Kenly was sentenced to no less than 121/2 years and a maximum of 15 years in state prisons. Each count carried a sentence of 19 months to 23 months. He was also ordered to pay court costs and his attorney's fees.
Rasberry, a former World Vision Outreach Center pastor, entered court wearing a white shirt and gray pants. He sat quietly and emotionless during the proceedings.
It was agreed through a plea bargain that all other charges against Rasberry would be dropped. Besides the additional charges of incest, he had been charged with communicating threats, assault on a female, two counts of sex offense while in a parental role, nine counts of assault inflicting serious injury and 17 counts of statutory rape.
FORT LAUDERDALE (FL)
Sun-Sentinel
By TONYA ALANEZ
sun-sentinel.com
Posted July 25 2006, 11:08 AM EDT
FORT LAUDERDALE – A retired priest from Margate who is accused of molesting, drugging and raping a boy on Tuesday was given permission to move into an apartment of his own while he awaits trial in the case.
Broward Circuit Judge Susan Lebow on Tuesday approved Neil Doherty's request to move from a sister's home in Palm Beach County to an apartment of his own at the The Moorings in Lantana.
Last March, Lebow granted Doherty $70,000 bond on the condition that the 63-year-old surrender his passport, stay away from children younger than 18, and not enter the city limits of Margate. He also must wear an electronic monitoring device.
Doherty, a former priest at St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Margate, was arrested in January and faces eight counts of sexual battery, lewd and lascivious acts and molestation.
BOSTON (MA)
WNYT
NORTH GREENBUSH, July 24
By BILL LAMBDIN
A Franciscan priest who spent many years in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is being charged with rape.
Rev. Frank Genevive was arraigned Monday in Boston.
The crime the Franciscan father is accused of committing began 28 years ago. Usually that would be well beyond the statute of limitations, meaning it could not be prosecuted. But since Genevive allegedly took Albany-area boys across state lines to Boston and then came back to New York the Massachusetts limit for prosecution was not exhausted.
Genevive taught at Troy's LaSalle Institute in the late 1980s and disappeared suddenly. He also carried out various other duties within the Albany Diocese, although a diocese spokesman says as a Franciscan he was not under direct diocese control.
BOSTON (MA)
Capital News 9
Updated: 7/24/2006 9:24 PM
By: Staff
A priest who worked in our areas has been arraigned on rape charges in Massachusetts, and some of Father Frank Genevive's alleged victims trave