MISSOURI
ABC 17
A watch group is urging victims of molestation by priests to come forward and contact police in Columbia.
Gerald Howard is convicted of sex crimes and currently under investigation in Boone County. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also called SNAP, said Monday there could be multiple victims in Boone County.
Howard worked at the now closed Charter Hospital in Columbia after he was a priest in Boonville where he faces child molestation charges. If Howard molested children in Columbia, advocates say it would have been recent enough for a statute of limitations not to apply. This could keep Howard behind bars for good, so SNAP is asking victims to come forward and appealing to the church for help.
“We suspect very strongly that there are others out there who are still struggling in isolation and shame and self blame,” said David Clohessy the Director of SNAP.
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