PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
BY BRAD BUMSTED | Friday, April 1, 2016
HARRISBURG — After a grand jury report last month detailing widespread child molestation by priests, a state House panel next week will consider legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations in criminal child abuse cases and expand the time limit for civil litigation.
The statewide investigative grand jury under state Attorney General Kathleen Kane found that hundreds of children were molested for more than four decades by as many as 50 priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. But no one was charged with crimes because many had died and laws that limit the amount of time that elapses between an alleged crime and an indictment barred prosecution.
Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney David Hickton, whose office convicted a Somerset County priest sentenced last month to 16 months in prison, is reviewing whether his office can use the Racketeering Influenced Corruption Organized Act — created by Congress to go after mob leaders — for civil lawsuits to provide compensation to victims.
It would be the first civil use of the RICO law in the nationwide priest abuse scandal, said Marci Hamilton, an expert on statutes of limitations. The Tribune-Review reported two weeks ago that state Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery County, a former law enforcement agent, wrote to Hickton asking him to explore use of the RICO statute.
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