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.

May 1, 2015

Last clergy files released in Los Angeles 8 years after deal

CALIFORNIA
San Antonio Express-News

BY GILLIAN FLACCUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS : MAY 1, 2015

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An attorney for hundreds of sex abuse victims in Los Angeles released the last batch of files Friday kept by the Roman Catholic church on priests accused of molesting children.

The final 11 files were made public eight years after the Archdiocese of Los Angeles paid $660 million to settle hundreds of sex abuse claims. Overall, 205 confidential clergy files have been released by the nation’s largest archdiocese and more than two dozen religious orders.

The public airing of the final 2,400 pages brings a close to the devastating saga that began in 2002, when state lawmakers created a one-year window that allowed sex abuse victims to sue for abuse that happened years before. In all, more than 500 people filed lawsuits.

Part of the 2007 settlement included a process for the church to open its confidential records on priests who had been accused of molestation.

The files released Friday were kept by three religious orders — the Servites, Carmelites and Redemptorists — that had clergy working in the Los Angeles archdiocese.

“These files are so important and so damning,” said Ray Boucher, the lead attorney for plaintiffs who worked for years to get the totality of the files released. “There are always more cases, but nothing of this magnitude.”

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.

Oregon pastor convicted of child molestation

OREGON
KOMO

By GOSIA WOZNIACKA, Associated Press Published: Apr 30, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The pastor of a small Oregon church community described as cultlike by prosecutors was convicted Thursday of molesting the daughter of a church member in the 1990s and was immediately sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Michael George Sperou, 64, pastor of the North Clackamas Bible Community, was found guilty by a Portland jury on three counts of unlawful sexual penetration.

Sperou was investigated in 1997 after seven girls said he had sexually molested them, but prosecutors never brought charges because of inconsistent statements by the girls.

Two years ago they again brought their complaints to police. Prosecutors determined the statute of limitations had expired on complaints by all but one of them. But the other six were allowed to testify so jurors could decide whether the pastor’s behavior was intentional and part of an ongoing pattern.

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.