Legal Examiner
October 16, 2018
By Joseph H. Saunders
After Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro unveiled a bombshell 1,300-page grand jury report detailing the alleged sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children in his state by hundreds of Catholic priests, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has launched a statewide criminal investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
At a press conference announcing the investigation Bondi said, “We have reason to believe there are similar stories in Florida,” and asked victims to come forward with information. Before the investigation was announced 15 victims had contacted authorities. With an estimated 2 million Catholics in the state, that number is expected to grow as the inquiry proceeds.
Bondi was unsparing in her criticism, saying “Any priest that would exploit a position of power and trust to abuse a child is a disgrace to the Church and a threat to society,” She then announced that investigators from offices including the statewide prosecutor and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will soon issue subpoenas in connection to the investigation. A spokesperson for Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops stated after the press conference that all seven Catholic dioceses in Florida were in dialogue with the statewide prosecutor and cooperating with the investigation.
It was apparent that the Florida Attorney General had been deeply affected by the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report. She claimed, “When the case about Pennsylvania aired, I couldn’t sleep that night. The next morning I talked to my statewide prosecutor and said, ‘We have to look into this,’ and he wholeheartedly agreed,” In Pennsylvania it was revealed that 301 priests across six dioceses had been accused of child sex abuse. There are more than 1000 identifiable victims, almost all of them children when the abuse occurred, and that number is expected to continue to grow. Among the chilling accusations was the revelation that “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.”
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