Ex-chaplain in St. George's School Scandal Sued 20 Years Ago in West Virginia

By Karen Lee Ziner
Providence Journal
February 17, 2016

http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20160217/NEWS/160219357

In his 1996 complaint, Richard Albright stated that the Episcopal Diocese "knew, or should have known" of White's “alleged proclivity for deviant sexual behavior, but failed to alert its parishioners of the potential danger to their children," and was vicariously liable for White's actions.

An Episcopal priest embroiled in a sex-abuse scandal at the elite St. George’s School in Middletown was sued 20 years ago by a West Virginia man who said the Rev. Howard W. White Jr. sexually molested him when he was approximately 11 years old.

The suit also asserts that The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of West Virginia ("the Diocese") "conspired" to cover up White's alleged misconduct to avoid "public knowledge, criminal prosecution, disgrace and scandal."

In his 1996 complaint, Richard Albright stated that the Diocese "knew, or should have known" of White’s “alleged proclivity for deviant sexual behavior, but failed to alert its parishioners of the potential danger to their children," and was vicariously liable for White's actions.

Instead, the Diocese kept appointing White to various assignments "within the Diocese of West Virginia and elsewhere, without reporting the criminal sexual misconduct to law enforcement authorities." White, the suit alleged, "is and was unfit" to be a priest, and "is and was a severe danger to persons who were his potential prey."

The Journal located the documents this week.

White could not be reached for comment. Now retired, he lives in Bedford, Pa., where he has been placed on administrative leave from "fill-in" duties as a volunteer priest at a local church, after his name emerged as a result of the allegations of widespread sexual abuse at St. George's. He also faces an ecclesiastical disciplinary review.

Albright, who lived in Marion County, W. Va., when the alleged abuse occurred, said White molested him in 1969 — five years before St. George's School quietly fired White for admitted sexual misconduct with a male student. At the time, then-St. George's headmaster Tony Zane wrote a cryptic letter to "Howdy" White in 1974 urging him to seek psychiatric help and not to work at any other boarding schools.

The school did not report White to child protection authorities, despite a mandatory Rhode Island reporting law. White went on to work at other boarding schools.

Albright's lawsuit states that he was so traumatized that he repressed the events until he entered therapy in 1974. The abuse allegedly included “sexual contact between Defendant White and the minor child,” and White telling Albright that “other boys enjoyed it,” while “verbally abusing" Albright and making Albright "feel that there was something wrong with him for not enjoying White’s homosexual attacks."

A Harrison County circuit court dismissed Albright’s complaint, saying it was time-barred. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the decision in 1998.

White and the Diocese were neither found guilty — nor exonerated — of the allegations. The courts only examined whether the complaint was filed beyond the statute of limitations, and not its merits, said attorney Ancil G. Ramey, of Huntington, W. Va., who represented White during Albright's appeal to the Supreme Court.

"There was no determination of guilt or innocence," Ramey said in a phone interview.

White, 74, former assistant chaplain at St. George’s School, is one of half a dozen former St. George's employees entangled in a widening sex-abuse scandal at the oceanside prep school. Most of the incidents date to the 1970s and 1980s, and involve dozens of alleged victims, according to an investigative report the school released in December. (One of the perpetrators, former athletic trainer Al Gibbs, is deceased.) Lawyers Carmen L. Durso and Eric MacLeish, who represent some victims, say at least 40 former students allege they were abused there.

Rhode Island State Police are conducting a criminal investigation. A Boston attorney is conducting an outside review: he was jointly hired by the school and an alumni-victims' group, "SGS for Healing," after the group complained that the investigator the school hired last year had a conflict of interest.

Albright, who would be approximately 58 now, could not be reached for comment. None of the lawyers who represented Albright during the lawsuit could be reached.

White has not been charged with any crime in Rhode Island. Police in North Carolina are investigating allegations brought two weeks ago by a woman who said White sexually abused her when she was 14 or 15, and he was a rector at Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville, where White served between 1984 and 2006.

The woman, now 47, spoke to The Journal by phone Wednesday. "It almost cost me my life," she said of her alleged experiences with White. "I tried to commit suicide. I was almost successful." She said she has been interviewed by Waynesville police.

A day after The Journal contacted the Rt. Rev. W. Michie Klusmeyer, bishop of West Virginia, about Albright's 1996 lawsuit, Klusmeyer emailed a statement. Noting that White was ordained in West Virginia some 50 years ago, Klusmeyer wrote:

"The Diocese of West Virginia does not and will not tolerate the behavior that has been described in the recent allegations. We have programs and procedures in place to prevent such situations, as well as strict reporting protocols. We will cooperate fully with all authorities in connection with this investigation, and will assist in every way, so that the truth may be revealed and that those who have been harmed will be comforted."

"The allegations that have been brought forward are indeed terrible, and I am deeply saddened for all concerned. I ask you to join me in prayer as we confront this difficult situation. Pray for all of the people involved: the victims and their families, and the students, administration, as well as Howard White."

Klusmeyer said after reading about White (and the St. George's sex-abuse scandal) in the New York Times, “I was made aware that he was ordained here in West Virginia. And I pulled his file.” Klusmeyer also said he has received phone calls “from other church people” regarding White, and said, "I am also aware of the lawsuit that you named."

Contact: kziner@providencejournal.com

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