Prosecutors Ask Judge for Information about Priest Sex Allegations

By John Pepitone and Jason M. Vaughn
Fox 4
June 16, 2012

http://fox4kc.com/2012/06/15/prosecutors-ask-judge-for-information-about-priest-sex-allegations/

[with video]

Jackson County prosecutors asked a judge on Friday to force the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City and St. Joseph to turn over information about allegations of sexual misconduct against five specific priests, as the county’s criminal case against the diocese and Bishop Robert Finn over alleged failure to report suspicions of child abuse.

Prosecutors also asked for transcripts and recordings of all the interviews conducted by former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves as part of his independent investigation of diocese policies when an allegation of sexual misconduct is made.

Finn and the diocese each face one count of failure to report suspicions of child abuse. Finn was not present at Friday’s hearing. The charges stem from how Finn and the diocese responded to allegations against Father Shawn Ratigan between December 2010 and May 2011.

The diocese found dozens of lewd photos of young girls on Ratigan’s laptop computer. He is now in jail, awaiting trial on state and federal child pornography charges.

In court, assistant prosecutor Trisha Lacey conteded that Finn and the diocese did not follow their policies and procedures when they learned of sexual misconduct charges against five priests who were not named in open court.

Lawyers for Finn and the diocese claim that this information is not relevant, because the allegations were brought to the church after the alleged victims became adults. They say that the bishop and the church were not required to report anything to the state in these cases.

Judge John Torrence says that he will rule on these issues by June 25th.