ST. LOUIS • A Roman Catholic priest from St. Louis, the Rev. William F. Vatterott, was indicted Wednesday on one federal child pornography charge, the U.S. attorney’s office said. The indictment says Vatterott, 36, possessed at least two images of an unidentified nude boy on his computer between June 2010 and June 2011. He is expected to appear in federal court late this week or early next week. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison. His attorney could not be reached for comment. Vatterott was ordained in 2003. He was associate pastor at Holy Infant Church in Ballwin, then be…
News
ST. LOUIS • A Roman Catholic priest from St. Louis, the Rev. William F. Vatterott, was indicted Wednesday on one federal child pornography charge, the U.S. attorney’s office said. The indictment says Vatterott, 36, possessed at least two images of an unidentified nude boy on his computer between June 2010 and June 2011. He is expected to appear in federal court late this week or early next week. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison. His attorney could not be reached for comment. Vatterott was ordained in 2003. He was associate pastor at Holy Infant Church in Ballwin, then be…
PHILADELPHIA — A judge is defending her decisions in the trial of the first Catholic Church official in the United States to be charged and convicted in the cover-up of the priest abuse scandal. Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina concluded in a recent opinion that Monsignor William Lynn lied to perpetuate a church cover-up of child sexual abuse. “The defendant learned that his predecessors handled clergy sex abuse in a way that prioritized shielding the church from scandal and … perpetuated the same system during his tenure,” she wrote in the 243-page decision, which summari…
NEW YORK — A group of Horace Mann alumni who say they were sexually abused while students there are calling on the elite New York City school to appoint an independent investigator. The four men, along with attorney Gloria Allred, also called on the state Legislature on Monday to pass a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases. The men, now in their 40s and 50s, said they were abused as teens. A woman who says she was an abused student was also at the event, but was not identified and did not speak. Allegations that the students in the school were abused over d…
Catholic Church officials in Milwaukee had known for 10 months that Father Robert Marsicek was under investigation on suspicion of molesting two children in California, according to the Sacramento diocese. But they did not move to suspend him from his duties at two local parishes and schools until a new allegation surfaced at a Wauwatosa school last month. Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the Diocese of Sacramento, said officials there notified the Archdiocese of Milwaukee; Marsicek’s Milwaukee-based religious order, the Society of the Divine Savior; and attorneys for both of the organizations …
Save the date: Supporters of the Child Victims Act will gather in Albany next week to push New York State lawmakers to pass the bill inspired by sex-abuse scandals at Poly Prep Country Day School, Syracuse and other institutions. Current state law requires survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file a case by the time they are 23 years old. The bill by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth) would eliminate the criminal and civil statute of limitations on sex-abuse cases. “I wanted to remind everyone about the Rally and Lobby Days for the Child Victims Act of New York that will tak…
(CNN) — Two Catholic priests accused of wrongdoing have been declared unfit for service by the Philadelphia archdiocese and will no longer be allowed to minister. Joseph J. Gallagher, 78, and Mark S. Gaspar, 43, are two of the 26 priests who were suspended by the archdiocese after a 2011 grand jury investigation into the archdiocese’s handling of child sex abuse allegations. They were placed on administrative leave while the church looked into allegations of abuse and misconduct. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said the investigations of Gallagher and Gaspar found substantiated violations of t…
News ReleaseApril 3, 2013 Jeff Anderson statement regarding the stipulation to release documents and depositions on sexual abuse in theArchdiocese of Milwaukee Note: A stipulation agreement was signed and filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin today that provides for the release of documents and depositions on July 1, 2013. Jeff Anderson Statement: “We are pleased with the decision of Archbishop Listecki to release documents and timelines related to clergy sexual abuse of minors by diocesan priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Th…
In a major development in its bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Wednesday that it will make public thousands of pages of documents detailing its handling of clergy sex abuse cases dating back decades.
The decision – a reversal for the archdiocese – came on the eve of a scheduled hearing at which U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley was expected to order the release of at least some of those records, which are under seal.
The release of documents has been a primary objective of victims in the hundreds of clergy sex abuse cases around the country, including the Milwaukee ba…
In a major development in its bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Wednesday that it will make public thousands of pages of documents detailing its handling of clergy sex abuse cases dating back decades. The decision – a reversal for the archdiocese – came on the eve of a scheduled hearing at which U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley was expected to order the release of at least some of those records, which are under seal. The release of documents has been a primary objective of victims in the hundreds of clergy sex abuse cases around the country, including the Milwaukee ba…