Former Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh apologizes to victims for long wait for Catholic sex abuse report

BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun [Baltimore MD]

April 12, 2023

By Dan Belson and Lee O. Sanderlin

Former Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said he regrets how long it took the office to finalize its investigation of sexual abuse by clergy in the Baltimore Archdiocese, and apologized to victims for the grueling wait.

 Frosh’s apology came during his first interview since a redacted version of the report, seen by many as a long-overdue validation of victims’ experiences, was released last Wednesday. The report documented the sexual abuse and torture of more than 600 children and young adults over the span of about 80 years, and the ways the church protected abusers. The Attorney General’s Office began investigating sexual abuse in the Baltimore Archdiocese in 2018, during Frosh’s tenure.

“I certainly wish it could have been completed sooner,” Frosh said Tuesday night during a roundtable discussion about the church report with journalists and abuse survivors. “I wish I’d had more people put on it in order to get it done faster. And I regret the fact that it took as long as it did.”

 Two people, Del. Elizabeth Embry, a Baltimore Democrat, and former FBI Special Agent Richard Wolf were assigned to the investigation when they both worked at the attorney general’s office. Embry was a special assistant attorney general and Wolf is still a criminal investigator for the office.

During Tuesday’s interview, Frosh said he reacted to the report with “shock and horror,” noting it was a “long labor” that “took too long.” He said the office “did the best we could with what we had,” but was slowed by limited resources and a tedious document production process. The archdiocese, under grand jury subpoena, produced its final documents in June 2022, a few months before the report was completed, Frosh said. He said the church did not break the law in its delayed disclosure.

 Frosh spoke during a roundtable with journalists from The Baltimore Sun, WMAR-TV and Scripps News that was recorded on Tuesday. The full program is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Wednesday on baltimoresun.com and Scripps News, and at 7 p.m. Thursday on WMAR-TV.

 The Most Rev. William E. Lori, archbishop of Baltimore since 2012, declined to attend the roundtable. The archdiocese did not make any other representative available to attend. 

A spokesperson for the archdiocese did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday morning.

In a written statement last week, Lori said the report showed that Frosh’s administration had “signaled that the cultural changes, child protection policies and accountability measures the archdiocese began implementing more than a generation ago have proven successful.”

 Asked whether he agrees with that, Frosh said Lori’s words “broadly construed” the opinion of his attorney general’s office.

“As far as we can tell, the archdiocese started complying with the law in 2002,” Frosh said, referring to obeying legal mandates to report child abuse to authorities. “I would not say that they have done everything they can to stop child abuse, to hold people accountable.”

 Frosh left office in January and the report was released by his successor, Anthony Brown. It has resulted in just one criminal indictment. While most of the priests in the report are dead, 10 are still alive and their identities are redacted because they have not been publicly accused before. Frosh declined to comment on whether he believed they should be criminally charged.

 Frosh also apologized personally to Gloria Larkin, a victim of sexual abuse at Archbishop Keough High School who lauded the thoroughness of the investigator who worked with her, but felt damaged by the length of time it took for the report’s release.

 “Those four years cost me greatly, and there were some very dark times,” she said.

 “I’m so sorry. I wish we had done it faster,” Frosh replied.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-ag-frosh-apology-catholic-church-victims-20230412-wdepqmgqcng7joepvx2ru5lvnq-story.html