Lawyer to SNAP advocate, abuse survivor: You are ‘not interested in presenting the truth

JACKSON (MS)
Clarion Ledger

Oct. 4, 2019

By Frank Vollor

In response to the same article that appeared under two different titles, “Catholic Church Needs to Help DA Investigate Abuse Charges” in the Clarion Ledger, September 29, 2019, and “Response to Clergy Abuse has been Love” in the Greenwood Commonwealth on September 14, 2019, Mark Belenchia flippantly suggests that as fitness review officer for the Diocese of Jackson, I lied about reporting the alleged child abuse in 1998 involving Rapheal Love and that the receipt or acknowledgement of my report from the Greenwood Police Department is my fabrication.

His justification for this accusation is the report does not contain a case number. The receipt or acknowledgment from the Greenwood Police Department I have in my possession was faxed on October 18, 1998, as reflected by the fax information at the top of the transmittal. The report was faxed on City of Greenwood Police Department letterhead, listing the then Mayor Harry L. Smith. The fax was personally signed by Det/Lt Mel Andrews who later retired as Captain Andrews in 2016. The faxed report was from the Greenwood Police Department fax number and faxed to my then number as Circuit Court Judge for the Ninth Judicial District.

I left that position in 2009 and have not had access to that number since then. The report attached is a law enforcement computer printout styled Offense/Incident Report, Greenwood Police Department. It lists the primary reporting officer and investigating officer as Lester Martin, along with the facts I reported. The boxes of whether the report was accepted or denied are blank, as is the approving supervisor’s signature line. This may explain why it was never assigned a number. The Greenwood PD may have never accepted the report as credible.

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