6 News Investigates: 2004 diocese arbitration used abuse guide for victim settlements

PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[with video]

BY KODY LEIBOWITZ TUESDAY, MAY 10TH 2016

HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has paid millions of dollars in settlements in the past.

At least one of those settlements included a guide used by the diocese and attorneys to determine how to pay victims, according to an investigation by 6 News Investigates.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane released a grand jury report in March on the Diocese. It outlined shocking allegations against the diocese and its past leadership.

The pages of the grand jury report shed public light on a diocesan payment chart. The March report calls it a “pay out scale” used for “the purchase of silence”. Four levels are transcribed in an escalating degree of sexual abuse-to-payment range. Compensation to victims ranged from $10,000 to $175,000.

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