BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News
September 6, 2018
By Jay Tokasz
New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood has launched a statewide investigation into the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy, with a particular focus on the Buffalo Diocese, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
The Attorney General’s Office earlier today sent out subpoenas seeking information from the six dioceses and one archdiocese across the state. The office also set up a clergy abuse hotline and online complaint form for anyone to provide information confidentially, according to the source.
The office’s Charities Bureau, which oversees non-profit organizations, is conducting the civil investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of minors in Catholic dioceses. At the same time, the office’s Criminal Division continues to try and work with local district attorneys on investigating and potentially prosecuting anyone within the dioceses on criminal charges related to sex abuse or cover-up of abuse.
Unlike Pennsylvania, the AG’s Office in New York doesn’t have the power to convene grand juries without an executive order from the governor’s office. Underwood said last month she would partner with district attorneys, who do have the power to convene grand juries, on a criminal investigation into dioceses.
The New York investigation followed the release last month of a bombshell Pennsylvania grand jury report that said 300 priests molested more 1,000 children in six of the state’s eight dioceses and archdioceses. The new investigation also comes on the heels of more than six months of media reports about Buffalo Diocese sexual abuse allegations, unraveling a cover-up of alleged clergy sex abuse dating back decades.
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