PENNSYLVANIA
NPR
March 15, 2016
LAURA WAGNER
Prosecutors in Pennsylvania have charged three former leaders of the Franciscan religious order with conspiracy and child endangerment for allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to work in a high school. The prosecutors say the friar had molested more than 80 children.
Giles Schinelli, 73, Robert D’Aversa, 69, and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, were successively in charge of the Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regulars, Province of the Immaculate Conception in western Pennsylvania from 1986 to 2010.
The three friars allegedly hid allegations of abuse against a member of their order, Brother Stephen Baker, who eventually pleaded guilty to molesting three boys in 2007 and served part of a 10-year sentence before killing himself at a monastery in 2013.
After his suicide, more than 100 abuse claims were filed by former students of Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Pa., where Baker worked from 1992 to 2000, the Associated Press reports. Millions of dollars in damages have been paid out.
“These men knew there was a child predator in their organization. Yet they continued to put him in positions where he had countless opportunities to prey upon children,” Kane said when she addressed the media Tuesday to announce the charges. “Their silence resulted in immeasurable pain and suffering for so many victims. These men turned a blind eye to the innocent children they were trusted to protect.”
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