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Attorney General Josh Shapiro | Pulling back predator's cloak to obtain justice
By Josh Shapirao
Something extraordinary happened last Monday in Courtroom 3 in the Cambria County Courthouse in Ebensburg. Over three hours, the statements of 18 victims who were sexually assaulted as young children by a powerful man in Johnstown – Dr. Johnnie Barto, a local pediatrician – were read aloud into the court record. The collective voices of these brave survivors, describing Barto’s assaults and how it impacted them, were heard – many for the first time in their lives. “Some may inquire why I hadn’t come forward sooner,” wrote one survivor, who was 5 years old when Dr. Barto assaulted her in his doctor’s office. “The answer is simple – I wasn’t strong enough. But I prayed for the opportunity to use my voice. Finally, my opportunity has come.” Once every victim’s statement was read aloud, justice was delivered: Cambria County Judge Patrick Kiniry powerfully imposed a sentence of 79 years to 158 years in prison on Dr. Barto for his sexual assaults committed against 31 victims over many years. After the sentencing, I met with Dr. Barto’s victims and their families in the courthouse. This is some of what I shared with them. A reckoning is underway in Pennsylvania and across the United States. From Hollywood to the news industry, from universities to the Catholic Church, the time of protecting powerful institutions over people is ending. After a lifetime of not being believed, victims and survivors are being heard – and real action is happening as a result. In Pennsylvania, a grand jury investigated the rampant sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests in six dioceses, took testimony from many victims, and released a groundbreaking report last August that identified 301 predator priests, more than 1,000 victims, and an institutional cover-up running all the way to the Vatican. My office led that investigation. Across the United States, 16 other state attorneys general have publicly acknowledged opening investigations into sexual abuse by clergy, and more than 1,000 predator priests have been identified in credible allegations. I have spoken personally with 45 attorneys general on how we conducted our probe. The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting a national investigation of clergy abuse, and instructed Catholic dioceses across the country to preserve and not destroy internal church documents. I have spoken with U.S. Attorney General (William) Barr, and offered my office’s full cooperation to his efforts. Law-enforcement action on sexual abuse isn’t confined to the clergy. My office investigated sexual assaults of women inmates in Lackawanna County’s jail, and charged seven guards with assault. The cases are ongoing. We’ve charged a police chief as a child predator, and held leading officials of Penn State criminally responsible for endangering children’s welfare. The courage of victims is driving this law enforcement activity. I told the survivors of Dr. Barto that their bravery in confronting their powerful abuser after so many years sparked a fundamental shift in the paradigm of power in Johnstown. The victims are now believed, and they – not their abuser – hold the power. For decades in Johnstown, it was not that way. Dr. Barto held himself out as a pillar of the community – a family pediatrician, an elected member of the school board, a regular attendee at church – even as rumors swirled about Barto’s inappropriate or even criminal behavior with children brought to his doctor’s office. People trusted Dr. Barto. When the parent of one child confronted Barto with the allegation that he had inappropriately touched her child, the state licensing board for physicians reviewed the complaint – and cleared Barto of wrongdoing. That was 20 years ago. Barto continued assaulting young patients, unchecked. Until December 2017, when the parents of a 12-year-old female patient of Barto’s reported to Richland police that he had abused their daughter. Working with local police, we filed abuse charges against Barto one month later. When those charges were filed, many in the community defended Barto. There was even a Facebook page set up to defend him. However, my prosecutors and agents suspected Barto was a serial predator, and knew he had access to children. We stayed on the case, undeterred by criticism, and put out a public call for help, asking anyone with information to call a special hotline. Our investigators received multiple tips and followed every lead. Last March, we charged Barto with sexually assaulting a young family member – at a family gathering. A month later, we filed new charges against him for assaulting another young family member – a toddler when she was first assaulted. We did not stop. We worked with Richland police, interviewing young victims of Barto and older victims as well, who told of being sexually assaulted by their pediatrician years ago. Last July, we charged Barto with the sexual assault of another 28 additional victims – boys and girls – most between the ages of 8 and 12. We listened to his victims and we believed them – not Barto. “You specifically abused your victims at such vulnerable ages in such vulnerable situations and counted on us not having the understanding or the confidence to speak up,” one victim wrote to the court, referencing Barto. “That is the definition of a pedophile, a predator and a coward.” The lengthy sentence for Barto sends a strong message: whenever we find child predators – or an institution covering up abuse – we will pursue them. It does not matter if the abuser is a priest, a pediatrician, a coach or anyone else – we will listen to every victim and investigate every lead. We still have unfinished business: Because of our commonwealth’s outdated criminal statute of limitations, we could not file charges against Barto involving nine other victims of his assaults. These victims are still waiting for their day in court because our commonwealth’s civil and criminal statutes of limitations prohibit any type of legal action for their abuse. This is unconscionable. These laws must change. The grand jury that investigated clergy abuse in the Church recommended four reforms to Pennsylvania law: • Eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for child sexual abuse. • Tighten the law regarding mandatory reporting of abuse. • Clarify the law allowing victims to cooperate with law enforcement even when a non-disclosure agreement is signed. • And open a civil window allowing survivors to sue their abusers and the institutions that covered it up, to allow them to recover for the harms done to them. I stand with every victim and survivor of sexual abuse, and urge the General Assembly to approve these reforms and send them to Gov. Tom Wolf, who has promised to sign them. I will keep pushing to change our laws so that all victims and survivors have the chance to hold their abusers accountable. Finally, their opportunity has come.
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