Articles
- Ex-Modesto priest found liable for abuse, removed from clergy “hearings centered on…sexual abuse memories of which he said he had repressed over the decades”
- Stockton Diocese accused of cover-up in Michael Kelly case
- Two former teen idols back bill to protect child actors
- Breivik: How I met ‘Richard the Lionheart’ in London cafe to plot ‘how to seize power in Western Europe’
Ex-Modesto priest found liable for abuse, removed from clergy
By Jordan Guinn The Record (Stockton) Apr. 06, 2012
The jury in a civil trial found that Father Michael Kelly should be held liable for three counts related to child molestation, according to the lawyer for his accuser.
Attorney John Manly said Friday a civil jury unanimously agreed that his client, a 37-year-old man identified in court papers as John TZ Doe, was molested by Kelly while he was a priest at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton. The plaintiff was a student at Annunciation School in the 1980s….
Now that Kelly’s verdict has been delivered, the same jury will start a second phase of the trial Wednesday to determine the diocese’s role in the alleged abuse and liability. Manly said removing Kelly from the diocese is a substantial victory….
Friday’s verdict is the culmination of four years of litigation and a seven-week trial, Manly said. The hearings centered on the plaintiff’s allegations of sexual abuse, memories of which he said he had repressed over the decades. The defense challenged the legitimacy of those memories.
The plaintiff’s attorneys also argued Kelly had victimized multiple children, but testimony from an alleged second victim was not allowed at the trial….
When the trial resumes Wednesday, the diocese’s previous handlings of child molestation cases will be the focus. That includes the case of defrocked and criminally convicted priest Oliver O’Grady.
O’Grady, a native of Ireland, recently was convicted of pornography charges in that country. Before that, the former Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Stockton served time for child molestation in San Joaquin County.
Before his 1993 arrest, O’Grady had been a priest at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Lodi, the Church of the Presentation in Stockton, St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in San Andreas and others.
Allegations against O’Grady have cost the Diocese of Stockton millions of dollars in settlements in more than 20 lawsuits brought by alleged victims. http://www.modbee.com/2012/04/06/v-print/2147587/ex-modesto-priest-found-liable.html
Stockton Diocese accused of cover-up in Michael Kelly case
Fri Apr 13, 2012
By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Now that Father Michael Kelly has been held liable for sexual assault and removed as pastor of a Lockeford parish, his civil trial will focus on the Stockton Diocese’s role in handling Kelly and other priests accused of childhood sexual abuse.
“The diocese made a concerted effort to cover up for Father Kelly,” attorney John Manly told the jury in his opening statement on Thursday morning. “They value money, power and their reputation more than they do children. Ladies and gentlemen, that has got to stop.”
The 10-woman, two-man jury found Kelly, 62, liable on Friday of sexually assaulting an altar boy in the mid-1980s. http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_2cc84273-73fd-5ac3-9452-f1d6fe4902da.html
Two former teen idols back bill to protect child actors
Todd Bridges and Corey Feldman, both of whom were molested by men with Hollywood connections, support legislation to require fingerprinting and background checks for those with unsupervised access to child performers.
By Dawn C. Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times
April 18, 2012
Three decades ago, they were teen idols. Todd Bridges played Willis on the popular sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes.” Corey Feldman starred in “Gremlins,”"The Goonies” and “The Lost Boys.”
The two men held the same dark secret: Each had been molested in his adolescence by men with Hollywood connections, experiences that would lead to downward spirals and years of drug addiction.
Today, they are making a highly public case for California legislation they hope will protect child actors from sexual predators, a problem they say continues to bedevil the entertainment industry.
“We’re not doing enough to protect children, period,” Bridges said.
The bill that the two actors support would require talent managers, photographers and others whose jobs involve unsupervised access to child performers to provide fingerprints and submit to criminal background checks. It also would prohibit registered sex offenders from representing artists who are minors.
“If this bill can help save one child from the pain and consequences of being made a victim, then it is worth every effort,” said the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose). http://www.latimes.com/business/la-et-molest-survivors-20120418,0,7018231.story
Breivik: How I met ‘Richard the Lionheart’ in London cafe to plot ‘how to seize power in Western Europe’
Mass killer draws inspiration from Islamist terror network’s methods
Claims to have met three people in London to create Knights Templar in 2002
Said he met a Serbian ‘war hero’ in Liberia in 2002 by posing as a member of Unicef
Prosecutors said Breivik was not part of a sophisticated anti-Muslim group
By Daily Mail Reporter
18 April 2012
A meeting between Anders Breivik and an English anti-Islamic militant calling himself ‘Richard the Lionheart’ was outlined in court yesterday.
Nine years before his killing spree left 77 dead, the Norwegian said he was sitting in a London cafe with members of an extremist group called Knights Templar, to plot ‘how to seize power in Western Europe’.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2131468/Anders-Behring-Breivik-trial-Norway-killer-says-I-dont-fear-death-execute-let-go.html
6 Jun
Jerry Sandusky trial: Former coach allegedly wrote intimate letters to victims, Child sex-abuse cases under-reported, often ignored
Posted by eassurvey in child abuse, child protection, child sexual abuse, Penn State Abuse Scandal, sexual abuse, teachers. Tagged: abusive sexual conduct, Catholic high school, Child sex abuse, child-molestation, former Penn State coach, inappropriate touching, intimate letters, Jerry Sandusky, rape, schools, sexual misconduct, unwanted sexual comments. Comments Off
Jerry Sandusky trial: Former coach allegedly wrote intimate letters to victims
Tuesday, Jun 5, 2012 Associated Press and Sporting News staff
Former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky allegedly sent love letters and gifts to his victims, ABC News reported on the first day of jury selection in Sandusky’s child molestation case.
Known only as Victim 4, one of Sandusky’s eight accusers said he received intimate letters from the former coach. The letters will be read into testimony during the trial, which begins on Monday. Victim 4, who is expected to be the first person to testify, will also show gifts Sandusky gave him during the course of their relationship.
The letters, said to be in Sandusky’s handwriting, are expected to corroborate the accusations of Victim 4, who met Sandusky through the former coach’s Second Mile charity. Victim 4, now 28 years old, is one of seven alleged victims who will testify against Sandusky in the three-week trial.
Ben Andreozzi, Victim 4′s attorney, says the letters will play a key part in the case against Sandusky. “They have evidence to support his allegations, and there’s other evidence that has not been released to the public yet that I think will really resonate with the jury,” Andreozzi told ABC News….
Sandusky, 68, faces 52 criminal counts and potential penalties that could result in an effective life prison sentence for alleged abuse involving 10 boys. He has denied the allegations.
http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-06-05/jerry-sandusky-trial-jury-selection-sexual-abuse-penn-state
Child sex-abuse cases under-reported, often ignored Saturday, June 2, 2012 Sat Jun 2, 2012 By Bill Heltzel and Halle Stockton
….David Scott Zimmerman’s case is a cautionary tale about what happens when certain patterns of behavior are not recognized and reported. Another boy described abusive sexual conduct by Zimmerman to school officials — three years after the 1995 incident involving the first boy. Vincentian officials immediately suspended Zimmerman, notified police and the county prosecutor, and started their own investigation. Ultimately, 13 boys told police of sexual behavior by Zimmerman. This time, a public scandal engulfed the Catholic high school. Court proceedings show that the school made a deal with Zimmerman to keep quiet about his dismissal if he absolved the school of liability. He also kept his teaching license.
A proposed Pennsylvania law would make confidential deals like the one between Zimmerman and Vincentian impossible. Other states have already acted. Oregon recently passed a law that could make it easier to recognize sexual misconduct. The law, cited as a model, could stop abuse in its early stages. Recent changes in Oregon law were made because of the Sandusky case, officials said. As policymakers consider a response, teachers, parents and students can be alert to recognize classic “grooming” patterns that are precursors to the sexual abuse of children. Another effective step, experts say, is to ban the practice of “passing the trash,” a phrase that describes when a suspected school employee is allowed to resign quietly and without consequences.
“You can stop a lot of this behavior,” said Charol Shakeshaft, an education professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who studies sexual abuse. One of every 10 students becomes a target of sexual misconduct that includes such behavior as unwanted sexual comments, inappropriate touching, and even rape, Shakeshaft said. Yet only about 6 percent of child sexual-abuse cases are reported to authorities, and teachers….
Coaches or teachers suspected of abuse tend to single out students for special treatment, lavishing them with attention and rewards. They become unusually close to children, finding ways to spend time with them privately in school and on trips outside of school.
Recognizing these techniques and reporting them are the keys to stopping predators from abusing children, experts say.
http://www.timesonline.com/news/local_news/child-sex-abuse-cases-under-reported-often-ignored/article_8cf83740-ac23-11e1-842e-001a4bcf6878.html