ABUSE TRACKER
A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.
Note to Our Readers: We are doing routine system maintenance. During this week, the Abuse Tracker entries for July 20 through August 7 will be temporarily off-line. When maintenance is complete, those weeks will be restored. Thank you!
May 1, 2012
CHICAGO (IL)
Bellingham Herald
By GARY MARX AND DAVID JACKSON – Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO -Prosecutors said Monday that they are ending their decade-long effort to extradite a former Roman Catholic priest who fled to India shortly before he was charged with 20 counts of criminal sexual assault and abuse of a 16-year-old Chicago girl.
Sleeva Raju Policetti has maintained his innocence since abruptly leaving Chicago in 2002, and in India he has waged a protracted court battle against efforts to extradite him to Chicago to face trial.
Policetti’s alleged victim initially worked with authorities, setting in motion an international extradition that required the approval of the U.S. State and Justice departments and India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
But in recent days she told Shauna Boliker, the Cook County first assistant state’s attorney, that she no longer wanted to pursue the case, effectively forcing prosecutors to drop it.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Inquirer Staff Writer
THE REV. James Brennan told church investigators four years ago that he let a 14-year-old boy view online pornography and share his bed in 1996 but denied that he touched the teen or exposed himself, according to documents revealed Monday at his landmark clergy sex-abuse trial.
Brennan told his interrogators at a 2008 canonical proceeding that his decision to let the boy view the images and sleep next to him that night was “borderline” inappropriate. Still, he said he was blindsided when the young man came forward after a decade and accused him of sexual assault.
“I was just devastated,” Brennan testified, according to a transcript read to jurors.
His statements emerged as the trial against Brennan and Monsignor William Lynn began its sixth week.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog
Ralph Cipriano
There are two defendants on trial in Courtroom 304, Monsignor William J. Lynn and Father James J. Brennan.
Msgr. Lynn is charged with conspiring to endanger the welfare of children by covering up for abuser priests, and allowing them to remain in ministry; the main charge against Father Brennan is the attempted rape of a 14-year-old.
The back story at the archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial, now beginning its sixth week, is that the evidence against Msgr. Lynn continues to pile up every day, while the case against Father Brennan appears to be unraveling.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Macedon Ranges Weekly
NICK RALSTON, LISA DAVIES
01 May, 2012
A retired Catholic priest and a one-time close personal friend of the Attorney-General, Greg Smith, has been charged over alleged sexual abuse of four children in the 1970s and ’80s.
Father Finian Egan, 77, who maintains his innocence, arrived at Ryde police station by appointment shortly before 11am.
It is understood his legal representative was already at the station.
Mr Egan walked out of the police station and into a waiting ambulance after the charges were laid.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
