CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For Immediate Release: Monday, Aug. 18, 2014
Contact: David Clohessy of St. Louis MO 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com, Brenda Brunelle of Windsor, Canada 519 800 3492, windsor@SNAPnetwork.org
Victims urge Catholic group to do outreach
Its former official faces sentencing in sex case
Ottawa man was former head of Catholic youth group
He just pleaded guilty in 1984 child sexual assault case
In 2002, a civil case against him & Knights of Columbus was settled
Group says Knights should prod others who were hurt to “come forward, get help, and call police”
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging a Catholic men’s organization to help find others who may have been sexually assaulted by an Ottawa man who pleaded guilty last week to child sex crimes.
Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are writing the head of the New Haven Connecticut-based Knights of Columbus, prodding them to “do aggressive outreach” to seek out “others who may have seen, suspected or suffered abuse” by Steve Fagan. For years, Fagan, who pleaded guilty last Monday to sexually assaulting a boy in 1984, was the State Chair of the Knights’ Ontario youth auxiliary.
Fagan will face a sentencing hearing on October 17 and “such outreach may help prosecutors convince the judge to levy an appropriate sentence,” SNAP’s letter said.
“The justice system works best, and kids are protected best, when judges have more information about child molesters before they are punished,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “If there are others victims of Fagan out there, the least the Knights can do is find them and urge them to contact Crown officials in the next few weeks.”
The Crown is seeking a six month jail sentence, two years’ probation, that Fagan be listed on the sex offender registry.
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