Delays common in reporting child sexual abuse

PENNSYLVANIA
WITF

(Harrisburg) — Last Monday, the State Attorney General announced charges against another priest accused of sexually abusing a child.

The alleged abuse happened two-and-a-half decades ago.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the case against retired priest John Thomas Sweeney outside the Westmoreland County Catholic school where the alleged abuse occurred in the 1991-92 school year.

In outlining the accusations, Shapiro noted that it is often decades before such abuse allegations surface, due to misplaced shame and confusion in the young victims.

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