Authorities abetted Diocese in hiding sexual abuse cases

by **RebelYell** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 10:22 am

A BLADE INVESTIGATION Authorities abetted diocese in hiding sexual-abuse cases Police, courts let accused priests avoid punishment By JOE MAHR and MITCH WEISS BLADE STAFF WRITERS For Sgt. John Connors, it was an urgent request from one of Toledo's most powerful priests. The veteran police detective was summoned by the Rev. John "Archie" Thomas to Central Catholic High School before classes to talk about a deep secret brewing behind the walls of the diocese headquarters. Church leaders feared a popular priest known for helping wayward youths - the Rev. Dennis Gray - was raping and molesting boys at the cleric's cottage, and Father Thomas, superintendent of diocesan schools, wanted the officer's advice on what to do. "He said, 'We've got a problem,' " Mr. Connors recalled of the meeting nearly two decades ago. The officer said he told the priest to keep Father Gray away from kids, and that was it. Case closed. The longtime detective did not file a police report, nor did he initiate an investigation into the man later accused of abusing more than a dozen boys. Instead, Father Gray eventually would be allowed to quietly leave the priesthood and go on - with no criminal record - to become a probation officer and a public school administrator, with access to hundreds of youngsters. Sergeant Connors was following an unwritten rule passed down from predecessors for decades. Over the past 50 years, those sworn to enforce the law and protect children repeatedly have aided and abetted the diocese in covering up sexual abuse by priests, a three-month investigation by The Blade shows. Beyond past revelations that the diocese quietly moved pedophile priests from parish to parish, The Blade investigation shows that at least once a decade - and often more - priests suspected of rape and molestation have been allowed by local authorities to escape the law. In a review of thousands of court and diocese documents and interviews with dozens of police officers, judges, prosecutors, victims, and advocates, the investigation found: In five cases, police officers refused to arrest or investigate priests suspected of sexually abusing children. One longtime Toledo police chief pressured subordinates not to arrest priests. In three cases that did result in formal investigations, authorities blocked the release of the case files to the public. Unlike convicted sex offenders, those priests could now pass background checks and have access to children without ever divulging their pasts. In one case that did make it to sentencing, a judge agreed to a jail term for a priest far lighter than commonly given to other pedophiles convicted of similar crimes. And in three cases, police and child-welfare caseworkers delayed or dismissed investigations of suspected pedophiles who were priests. In understanding what has become the biggest scandal to engulf the American Catholic church in generations, victims' advocates say one issue left unexposed is the role of civil authorities in helping to minimize or hide the criminal actions of pedophiles who wore priestly collars. While the sexual abuse crisis continues to unfold across the country, the deeper issue of police protection is now emerging, particularly in places with deeply rooted Catholic populations and where church members reached some of the most powerful positions in those communities. With millions of dollars in past settlements and several lawsuits pending, questions remain about the role local law enforcement played in the worst crisis to hit the Toledo diocese in its 95-year history. "You can't separate police from the issue," said Catherine Hoolahan, a Toledo attorney representing victims of clerical abuse. "Too many times, they could have arrested priests and sent a message to the church. You have to wonder that if the police did their jobs earlier, the church may have had to deal with cases more in the open." For years, bishops and police treated abusive priests as fallen clerics rather than criminals, preferring to send them to treatment centers instead of jails. The unwritten policy helped perpetuate a cycle that allowed church leaders to continue covering up the crimes of pedophile priests for decades. It was a policy that has left some victims feeling twice betrayed - once by church leaders sworn to be their spiritual shepherds and again by law enforcement officials sworn to protect their safety. "Now that the church has been dealt with, it's time to deal with the agencies and the people who let it go on in the communities," said George Keller, a victim of a priest whose case was concealed in Bellevue, Ohio. Representatives of law enforcement agencies say much has changed since the sexual abuse crisis unfolded in 2002 and that priests suspected of crimes no longer receive special favors. But even today, authorities have been slow to act in some cases when complaints are made. Last year in the case of a priest previously removed from ministry, Lucas County Children Services waited nearly a year before investigating a complaint that he was staying in a home where children were tutored. Two years ago, the Lucas County prosecutor's office took two months to begin investigating a sex-abuse complaint against another priest. Bishop Leonard Blair insists the diocese is focused "to do everything humanly possible to address past acts of sexual abuse and to protect children and young people from sexual abuse in the future." Diocese leaders won't discuss how they and their predecessors worked with law enforcement authorities for decades to ensure pedophile priests avoided the spotlight. But the cover-up has been confirmed by former police officers and the diocese's former spokesman, Jim Richards, who said church leaders "knew who to call in the police department" to keep cases quiet. Looking the other way The practice of concealment has been a part of local enforcement culture since the 1950s as the church was cementing its role as a social service powerhouse - an institution that urged young Catholics to seek careers in public service, including law enforcement. Records and interviews show the first known concealment of clerical sexual abuse in the Toledo diocese took place in 1958 - one of three to be hidden over the next decade. Under Police Chief Anthony Bosch, one priest was quickly moved from his parish, only to abuse again. The second was allowed to move to Canada and would later return to parish life in another state with parishioners never alerted to his past. Those cases would set a precedent that would be followed in the department for the next two decades. Mr. Bosch, once state leader of the church's largest fraternal organization, the Knights of Columbus, established an unwritten rule during his tenure between 1956 and 1970 that no priests should be arrested - even in the case of child abuse, according to four former police officers interviewed for this story. "You would have been fired," said Gene Fodor, who served on the force between 1960 and 1981. When members of St. Stephen's Church in East Toledo went to police in 1960 to complain that the Rev. Alexander Pinter was raping and molesting altar boys at a cottage in western Lucas County, no report was filed nor was an investigation ordered. Mr. Fodor said several parish members complained to him, but he never filed a report, either. "People would come up to me and say, 'When are you going to arrest that Pinter? He's a pervert.' But I couldn't." Instead, police allowed Father Pinter to go to Canada. Eventually, he became a parish priest in Louisiana, where he died in 1978. Another priest didn't have to move out of the diocese. The Rev. Frederick Garand was forced to leave Our Lady of Perpetual Help in 1958 after a Toledo police captain suspected the longtime cleric of sexually abusing a parish boy. Capt. Tom O'Leary was so angry he threatened to shoot the priest, who was then an associate pastor, witnesses recalled. But the police captain didn't file a report. Father Garand was quickly transferred to another parish in Mansfield, said the Rev. Robert Lamantia, who oversaw the transfer. Father Lamantia, now retired, said the diocese knew that no matter how angry the police captain was, the police department would never investigate Father Garand. "No. It was a 'church thing,'

Authorities abetted Diocese in hiding sexual abuse cases

Authorities abetted Diocese in hiding sexual abuse cases

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