YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
Youngstown Vindicator
October 9, 2018
By Justin Dennis
A group representing Catholic Church sex-abuse victims is urging state and county prosecutors to launch a grand-jury-style investigation into dioceses in Youngstown as well as the rest of Ohio – similar to Pennsylvania’s recent report that exposed hundreds of priests.
But prosecutors said it’s not that easy – without criminal allegations from abuse victims at the county level, there are no grounds for an inquiry.
Jones said the group hasn’t reached out to the attorney general directly. SNAP workers said they have become accustomed to being ignored by authorities or diocesan administrators – and instead work through the media to garner attention. SNAP has prompted similar news conferences in Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson and Lucas counties, each with their own Catholic diocese.
“The Pennsylvania grand jury report showed a cover-up and enabling of child-sex crimes – it was a scathing report,” Jones said Tuesday. “Pennsylvania is not just one bad state. … The church is run the same everywhere. Each diocese is run the same.”
Attorney general spokesman Dan Tierney said Tuesday, however, Pennsylvania law is different, and there is no provision allowing for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to impanel a grand jury on its own. County-level prosecutors must bring sex-abuse charges, based on victim accounts given to local law enforcement.
In Pennsylvania, a Cambria County grand jury reviewed allegations against Brother Stephen Baker – who also was accused of abuse during his tenure at John F. Kennedy High School in Trumbull County – and the county district attorney reached out to then-Attorney General Kathleen Kane to investigate other dioceses in the state.
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