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
