Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Berkeley Police Believe Recent Kidnapping Attempts May Be Related

 

Two attempted kidnappings that occurred in the last month may be related, according to an alert issued by the Berkeley Police Department on Friday.

An unknown suspect attempted to kidnap a 12-year-old boy Tuesday evening near the intersection of Sacramento Avenue and Addison Street, the alert noted. According to the alert, the boy was riding his scooter on the sidewalk when a woman stopped her car in front of him and attempted to lure him into the vehicle. The attempt was thwarted when the boy ran away from the alleged perpetrator, the alert added.

BPD noted it believes that this incident is related to another attempted kidnapping from Aug. 29, reported near Allston Way and McKinley Avenue. In that incident, a person in a white car pulled up to a 13-year-old girl and attempted to convince her to get inside, according to the alert. The girl refused and walked away from the situation, the alert noted.

Witnesses described the suspect as a 5’4″ Black woman between the ages of 30 and 40. She was noted as having a “chubby build” and black hair that was in a bun, according to the alert. The vehicle was identified as a newer model white Honda or Toyota sedan, the alert added.

The alert encouraged those with information on the attempted kidnappings to contact BPD.

Check Back For Updates.


Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Sex Offender Jumps Elementary School Fence To Attack Child: Police

 A convicted sex offender is behind bars again on suspicion of assaulting a young girl inside a Riverside County elementary school bathroom.

Police arrested 32-year-old Logan Nighswonger of Riverside on suspicion of attempted sex acts with a child under the age of 10 and being a registered sex offender on school grounds.
Police arrested 32-year-old Logan Nighswonger of Riverside on suspicion of attempted sex acts with a child under the age of 10 and being a registered sex offender on school grounds. (Riverside Police Department)

RIVERSIDE, CA — A convicted sex offender is in custody today after allegedly hopping the fence at a Riverside County Elementary school and attempting to sexually assault a child in the girl's restroom, according to the Riverside Police Department.

Police arrested 32-year-old Logan Nighswonger of Riverside on suspicion of attempted sex acts with a child under the age of 10 and being a registered sex offender on school grounds.

The incident occurred at about 12:30 p.m. Friday at McAuliffe Elementary in the 4100 block of Golden Avenue, according to the Riverside Police Department.

"A man had jumped the school fence and entered the girls’ restroom," the police department said in a written statement. "A campus supervisor observed this man, later identified as Logan Nighswonger, come out of the restroom and heard a girl crying inside."

"The campus supervisor followed Logan Nighswonger as he jumped other fences to the parking lot and get inside a vehicle," according to Riverside police Officer Ryan J. Railsback. "He was then able to provide a detailed vehicle description and license plate as the suspect drove away."

"Nighswonger was located and safely detained, then transported back to Riverside and later booked into jail," the Riverside Police Department said in a written statement.

He was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center, where he is being held without bail.

Nighswonger's previous conviction stems from a 2016 conviction for annoying or molesting a child under the age of 18.

According to a 2015 statement issued by the Riverside Police Department, Nighswonger was arrested for two separate incidents involving inappropriate comments to children and one incident of exposing himself to elementary school students at Mark Twain Elementary in Riverside. He was caught thanks to several students who were able to get his license plate following the incidents, police said.

At the time, The investigation led investigating officers to believe these types of incidents might have occurred at other local elementary schools in Riverside and the city of Corona.

Anyone with information about Friday's incident and arrest or other incidents involving Nighswonger is urged to contact Detective Stacie Ontko at 951-353-7121 or SOntko@RiversideCA.gov.

City News Service contributed to this report.


Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Sex assault accusers describe Bay Area coach’s ‘cult-like’ hold on them

Chioke Robinson faces 19 felony charges in sex assault case:

LOS GATOS – JULY 26: People space out and listen to speakers during a Stand for Survivor Solidarity event held on the football field of Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos, Calif., on Sunday, July 26, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)
LOS GATOS – JULY 26: People space out and listen to speakers during a Stand for Survivor Solidarity event held on the football field of Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos, Calif., on Sunday, July 26, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

Friday, August 9, 2019

Child Molestation Charges Filed Against East County Man

Six felony charges of lewd acts on a child were filed against a 34-year-old East County man accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl.

By California News Wire Services, News Partner

Six felony charges of lewd acts on a child were filed against a 34-year-old East County man accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl. (Shutterstock)

EL CAJON, CA – Six felony charges of lewd acts on a child were filed Thursday against a 34-year-old East County man accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl.

Shaun Crocker, also known as Shawn Hedge Crocker, according to a criminal complaint, is accused of touching the victim inappropriately on various occasions between September and November of last year.

According to KGTV, Crocker is the son of Matthew Hedge, a convicted sex molestation convictions, but also a judge's controversial decision to lift Hedge's sexually violent predator status and release him from custody without supervision.

KGTV cites statements from the alleged victim's mother regarding Crocker's parentage, though the District Attorney's office has not confirmed the relation.

Crocker, who faces 18 years in prison if convicted of all charges, was arrested Wednesday and remains in custody on $1 million bail, according to county jail records. He's next due in court Aug. 16.

Hedge pleaded guilty in 1989 to molesting four children in the San Diego area and served 12 years in prison. He was committed to the sexually violent predator treatment program in 1997, but was released into outpatient treatment in 2005 in a trailer outside Donovan State Prison in Otay Mesa.

His outpatient status was revoked within six weeks for violating terms of his release.

After more than two years of in-patient hospital treatment, the court in October 2008 again granted Hedge's petition to be placed in outpatient treatment.

In 2012, he was released without supervision after San Diego Superior Court Judge David Gill determined he no longer posed a danger to others and was unlikely to re-offend.

– City News Service


Saturday, July 27, 2019

18 Marines, 1 Sailor Arrested On Smuggling, Drug Charges

Three more service members were taken into custody in connection with a criminal probe into human smuggling and drug offenses that led to the arrests of 16 Marines at Camp Pendleton, investigators said. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi, File)

CAMP PENDLETON, CA — Three more service members – two Marines and one Navy sailor – were taken into custody in connection with a criminal probe into human smuggling and drug offenses that led to the arrests of 16 Marines at Camp Pendleton, investigators said Friday.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents took 16 Marines into custody Thursday morning during a battalion-wide roll-call formation at the northern San Diego County military installation, according to Marine Corps officials.

The arrestees range in rank from E-2 to E-4 and were all from the same unit – 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Their identities and details on the allegations against them were not immediately available.

NCIS officials confirmed Friday that two more Marines had been arrested, along with one sailor, pushing the total number of arrests to 19.

"NCIS apprehended 18 Marines and one Sailor yesterday (Thursday) in relation to an ongoing investigation into allegations of human smuggling and drug-related offenses," NCIS spokesman Jeff Houston said in a statement. "The 1st Marine Division is cooperating with NCIS on this matter. NCIS is dedicated to investigating allegations of criminal activity that poses threats to Department of the Navy readiness and the safety of U.S. citizens.

"Out of respect for the investigative and judicial process, and to protect witnesses, NCIS will not comment further until the investigative and judicial process has completed," he said.

No other details were provided about the additional arrests.

As of Friday afternoon, the suspects had yet to be charged with any crimes, said USMC Maj. Kendra Motz, a 1st Marine Division spokeswoman.

"Out of respect for the privacy of the implicated Marines, we will not release names or other identifying information until charges are announced," Motz said. "The commanding officer of 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment will act within his authority to hold the Marines accountable at the appropriate level, should they be charged."

According to a Marine Corps statement, the arrests stemmed from "information gained from a previous human-smuggling investigation." Eight other Marines were interrogated Thursday for their alleged involvement in unrelated drug crimes, officials said. It was not immediately clear if the two additional Marine arrests announced Friday came from that group.

"None of the Marines arrested or detained for questioning served in support of the Southwest Border Support mission," according to the Marine Corps statement.

The prior case that led investigators to the new arrests involved Camp Pendleton Marines Byron Darnell Law II and David Javier Salazar-Quintero, who were taken into custody three weeks ago.

On July 3, Border Patrol agents investigating suspected human- smuggling activity in the southeastern reaches of San Diego County pulled over a small black car near Boulevard, according to a federal complaint.

Inside the vehicle were Law, Salazar-Quintero and three Mexican nationals in the United States illegally, the court document states. The two servicemen were taken into custody on suspicion of transporting undocumented immigrants for financial gain.

Law and Salazar-Quintero are being prosecuted in federal court. The newly arrested Marines' cases are in the military justice system for now, though they could wind up in the civilian legal arena, as well, said 1st Lt. Cameron Edinburgh, another public-information officer with the 1st Marine Division.

Saturday, March 30, 2019

MISSING TEEN: It's been 1 year since Tiffany Terwilliger was last seen


by: Kel Dansby

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is asking for help from the public to locate missing teenager, Tiffany Terwilliger.

Tiffany Terwilliger went missing a year ago on March 29, 2018. She was last seen at her home in Las Vegas, NV. Tiffany may still be in the local area or she may attempt to travel to Henderson, Nevada or Yucaipa, California.

She is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall with blue eyes, pierced ears, and naturally light brown hair; however, her hair may be dyed red.

Anyone with information about Tiffany is asked to contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) or the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at 1-702-828-3111.



Monday, March 18, 2019

Missing Black girls and the individuals and organizations trying to help



By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent 

Have you seen Iniaya Wilson?
Just 14, Iniaya has been missing from her Columbus, Ohio home since January 25.
She’s African American, has brown hair and brown eyes; standing 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds.
Have you seen Skylar Mannie?
From Lancaster, Calif., Skylar is also Black and just 13 years old. She was last seen on Feb. 14.
She has black hair, brown eyes, stands 5 feet 5 inches and weighs 130 pounds.
The two are among the estimated 64,000 Black girls and women across the United States that have gone missing. Iniaya and Skylar are also among an unfortunately growing number of young people listed in the “critically missing” section of the expansive database of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
That includes girls and women of all backgrounds, an important distinction because of the lack of media coverage of African Americans who’ve gone missing.
That has spurred activists and some in Congress to action.
In efforts to address the problem of missing Black children nationwide, Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), and Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) initiated the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls in 2016. Through the caucus, they hope to create public policies that “eliminate significant barriers and disparities experienced by black women.”
According to BlackNews.com, members of the caucus believe that more federal assistance and collaboration is needed to further eliminate the problem.
“I feel like knocking on every attic, every garage to see where those girls are,” House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi said. “Let’s be an example to the world that we can’t rest until these girls are found.”
Further, the nonprofit Black and Missing But Not Forgotten, also has focused its attention on spotlighting and finding missing African Americans.
Since 2007, the organization has sought to develop relationships with media, government agencies and the public to ensure that missing African Americans receive prompt attention and concern to garner the best possible outcomes for each case.
A 2010 study about the media coverage of missing children in the United States discovered that only 20 percent of reported stories focused on missing Black children despite it corresponding to 33 percent of the overall missing children cases.
The report revealed that missing Black youth – especially Black girls – are underreported in the news and it seems that many people don’t even care.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said that in 2018 alone, there were 424,066 reports of missing children made to law enforcement around the country.
John and Revé Walsh and other child advocates founded the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as a private, non-profit organization to serve as the national clearinghouse and to provide a coordinated, national response to problems relating to missing and exploited children.
Walsh, who formerly hosted “America’s Most Wanted,” now does similar work with his show, “In Pursuit.”
The show, which airs on the Investigation Discovery network, has remained relentless in its pursuit of missing children.




Sunday, February 24, 2019

Which States Have the Most Missing Persons?



Over 600,000 people go missing each year:

 BY 

According to NamUS, over 600,000 people go missing each year in the United States, ranging from young children to older individuals.
Famous missing person cases such as the Elizabeth Smart or Jayme Closs disappearances are well-known missing persons cases, but countless other cases never make it to the spotlight.
National Missing Persons Day—February 3—gives the nation an opportunity to focus more on finding those missing persons, and some states are even expanding those efforts. Arizona holds a Missing in Arizona Day each year where forensic experts and law enforcement take information, notes, and records about missing individuals in hopes of finding some of those people.
Below, we explore which states have the most missing persons to help keep you informed about this epidemic.
Missing Persons per capita map

Methodology

The team at VivintSource.com gathered data from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to see which states have the most and least amounts of missing persons per capita. State populations reported came from the 2017 American Community Survey one-year estimates.

Data Highlights

missing person is defined as “anyone whose whereabouts is unknown whatever the circumstances of disappearance.” They can be considered a lost person, someone who has voluntarily gone missing, or someone who is missing against their will. In our research, we uncovered some compelling data about missing persons:
  • Of the 15,207 people currently missing in the US, approximately 60% are male and 40% are female.
  • The average age of people when they go missing is around 34.
  • As of January 2019, there are 106 children currently missing who were younger than a year old when they went missing.
  • Alaska has the most missing persons per capita, with 41.8 people missing per 100,000 population. Massachusetts has the least missing persons per capita, with 1.8 people missing per 100,000 population.
  • However, California has the most missing persons in total, with 2,133 people missing. Rhode Island has the least, with 20 people missing.
  • The cities with the most missing people total include Los Angeles (189), Phoenix (170), Houston (165), San Francisco (163), and Detroit (150).
  • There are 12,459 unidentified persons as of January 2019.

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Human-trafficking crackdown: 510 arrested, 56 rescued in California

By 

Los Angeles - More than 500 suspects were arrested and 56 people were rescued during a statewide human-trafficking crackdown, officials said.

The Los Angeles County Regional Human Trafficking Task Forces announced the arrests of 510 suspects during the three-day sweep, called Operation Reclaim and Rebuild.

During the operation, which took place between Jan. 25 and 27, the task force said 45 adults and 11 girls were rescued.

Among the 510 suspects arrested, 30 are suspected traffickers and 178 are alleged "johns."


The task force is housed by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and is a collaboration of more than 85 federal, state, county and local law enforcement and non-profit community organizations.

Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell gave details surrounding some of the arrests.

In one very disturbing incident in Milpitas, California, a man dressed in full police uniform - including a side arm - was arrested on felony charges after he sexually assaulted a human-trafficking victim, McDonnell said. The suspect was found to be already on felony probation and wanted by police for additional, similar crimes.

The sheriff said the operation targeted those who use the internet to exploit victims. In one such instance, McDonnell said an undercover deputy posing as a young female on social media was contacted by a suspect, who recruited her to work for him in the commercial sex trade.



After arranging a meeting, the pimp drove from Riverside County to meet with his victim. He demanded $500 from the victim for him to manage her. The suspect would collect the money from the customers and give the victim whatever he decided she needed. McDonnell said the suspect was arrested by task force detectives and found to be in possession of a stolen .357 Magnum handgun.

The task force was established in November 2015 and since that time, 948 suspects have been arrested in connection to human trafficking.


The Los Angeles-based non-profit Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking is providing help, including shelter and food, to the victims rescued during the operation.


Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Valley agencies take part in human trafficking sting where 339 were arrested:



339 people arrested in statewide human trafficking sting


Tuesday, January 29, 2019 11:22PM
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) --

It's a problem closer to home than we think.
"Many if not most of our victims are home grown born in the U.S. or in California. They come from our backyard," said Lt. Daniel Stanley with the LA County Sheriff's Office.

In a three-day operation starting Jan. 24, 20 agencies teamed up to crackdown on human trafficking.

Operation reclaim and rebuild.
"It's a way for us to help victims of human trafficking reclaim and rebuild their lives," Lt. Stanley said.

Valley Agencies including Tulare County, Fresno and Merced Police took part.


"No longer is it primarily a drug issue, a homeless issue or a foster issue it's a problem for everyone no matter when you're at," said Debra Rush, founder and CEO of Breaking the Chains.

Rush says non profits like her's work hand in hand with law enforcement to stop the cycle of human trafficking by providing trauma treatment services.

"They can intercept and provide victims with the critical services they need in that moment it can be something as simple as food and shelter," she said.
In Fresno alone the Economic Opportunities Commission identified 104 human trafficking victims from the start of 2018 to date.

During the operation Fresno Police arrested 18 people, but they found their biggest success in the three victims they were able to rescue.

In Tulare County the human trafficking task force executed several sting operations in Visalia, Tulare, and Porterville boasting 10 arrests -- 5 for prostitution and 5 for solicitation.

In the north Valley with Merced Police, a sting led to 20 arrests one of those paired with the rescue of a underage girl.

"We found evidence he was basically forcing her to participate. So basically pimping her out," said Sgt. Luis Solis.

Because their sting was so successful, they've continued it past the operation, making an additional 4 arrests. One as recent as 6 hours before an interview with Action News took place.


Sunday, November 4, 2018

Human Trafficker Convicted of Human Trafficking of Minors


FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2016, file photo, detainees wait in a cell for an appearance in Sacramento county superior court in Sacramento, Calif. A new law to end money bail for suspects awaiting trial will take effect in Oct. 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file)
A Los Angeles man was convicted Thursday of trafficking teenage girls as young as 13 for commercial sex.
A jury in downtown Los Angeles found Raylonzo Roberts, 43, guilty of two felony counts each of pandering by procuring a minor under age 16, human trafficking of a minor for a commercial sex act, human trafficking of a minor for a commercial sex act by force, fear, fraud or threat of injury and lewd act on a child, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Jurors also convicted Roberts of one count each of human trafficking to commit another crime, aggravated sexual assault of a child and possession of a firearm by a felon.
The crimes involving eight girls occurred at various times between August 2011 and July 2015, according to Deputy District Attorney Guillermo Santiso.Roberts was arrested in August 2015 in connection with an investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department's South Bureau Human Trafficking unit and the Long Beach Police Department. He has remained behind bars since then.
Roberts is facing multiple life prison terms, with sentencing set Nov. 26.

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Priest sex abuse: New report lists 212 Catholic priests in Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco dioceses accused of child sex abuse

Related Articles





As Bay Area Catholic leaders are increasingly under pressure to name priests accused of abusing children, a Minnesota law firm published a report Tuesday identifying 212 priests in the San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco dioceses accused of sexual misconduct involving kids.
The report names 135 accused offenders in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, 95 in the Oakland diocese and 33 in the San Jose diocese, though 51 names are duplicates because some of the priests worked in more than one Bay Area diocese. Earlier this month, the San Jose diocese released its own list of credibly accused priests that had only 15 names, which this report calls “deficient.”

Jeff Anderson & Associates, a law firm that has represented a number of Catholic priest abuse victims in California and elsewhere, compiled the 66-page report, which included the mugshots of priests, their parish work history and a short synopsis of their alleged abuse.


“The data reveals the scandalous scale of hundreds of priests assaulting thousands of minors from early history to the present in these Dioceses,” the report concludes. “The data collected suggests the patterns and practices of Church officials, including the orchestration of an institutional cover-up of an enormous magnitude.”

Related Articles
The law firm acknowledges that the “vast majority” of the claims against the priests named in the report have been settled or not fully evaluated in civil court. Therefore, they say “the allegations should be considered just allegations and should not be considered proved or substantiated in a court of law.” They further describe how they compiled the names from media reports, the priest abuse database on BishopAccountability.org, dioceses’ own public statements and other sources.
For example, the Oakland Diocese in 2004 released a list of 24 credibly accused priests, and an investigation by this news organization in 2008 reported that 64 priests who had served in the East Bay had been accused of sexual abuse, either while working within the Oakland Diocese or at another outside the area. The investigation noted if a priest was named in a lawsuit, internal church records or another one of the thousands of documents reviewed. All but one of those was included in the law firm’s list Tuesday.
One of the most egregious abusers on the list is Stephen Kiesle, a priest who was placed on three year’s probation in 1978 for molesting two boys at Our Lady of the Rosary in Union City and was later arrested and charged with molesting three girls at Santa Paula in Fremont in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was was allowed to continue serving in a number of Bay Area parishes and ministries until the mid-1980s before being defrocked in 1987. He was sentenced in 2004 to six years in prison for abusing a 15-year old girl.
New on the list is Milton Eggerling, a priest who was accused of sexually abusing a boy in Austin, Texas, from 1973 to 1978. Before leaving for Texas, Eggerling was at Corpus Christi in Piedmont. He returned to Oakland in 1980 and later worked at the San Jose Diocese and at St. Patrick’s Church in Rodeo. He died in 2008. Anthony Rodrigue of the Dominican order served at St. Albert’s Priory in Oakland but was not named as an abuser by the Oakland diocese in 2004 despite having been sentenced in 1998 to 10 years in prison for abusing youth in Southern California before he came to the East Bay.
At least eight priests’ only East Bay connection was attending or being stationed at the Jesuit Theology Seminary in Berkeley.
On the law firm’s list connected to the San Jose Diocese, some names that did not appear in the diocese’s own report last week were already well-known offenders who were not parish priests but had a connection to the San Jose area. For others, there appears to be either no connection to the San Jose diocese or a tenuous one.
The San Jose diocese released a statement Tuesday saying they are reviewing the names on the list and will comment Wednesday.
“It is heart-breaking to see the list of so many who have betrayed and abused innocent children in these horrific ways in the list released today by Anderson & Associates,” the statement said. “Diocese of San Jose remains resolute in our commitment to provide healing and reconciliation for the victims/survivors. This will allow us to begin the process of restoring trust that has been painfully eroded by those in positions of leadership and trust by being accountable and transparent for what has happened in the past within the Diocese of San Jose.”
The new report shows a list of priests accused locally and elsewhere over the decades ended up at two South Bay retirement homes — the MaryKnoll retirement house in Los Altos and the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos.
They include Jerold Lindner, spiritual adviser for a lay organization called Christian Family Movement, who was accused of molesting boys at a religious camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the 1970s. One case made headlines in 2016, when one of his accusers, Will Lynch, attacked Lindner at the Jesuit Center where he was living. A jury later acquitted Lynch of assault.
William Farrington, a Jesuit accused in 2012 of molesting a Bellarmine College Preparatory School student in the 1960s, also lived at the Jesuit Center. Farrington was disciplined by the Jesuit order and banned from working with minors, according to a Mercury News report at the time.
The late John Rodriguez Moniz, also from the Los Gatos retirement home, had been convicted of lewd conduct with a young girl for a 1991 incident while visiting St. Mary’s parish in Los Gatos, also reported by the Mercury News. At the MaryKnoll retirement center, James E. Avery plead guilty and was sentenced to prison for abusing a 10-year-old boy in 1978 in Philadelphia. He later recanted his confession, according to BishopAccountability.org and the Philadelphia Enquirer.
Two priests who had brief stints at the campus ministry program at Santa Clara University in the 1970s and 1980s also were accused of sex crimes while working out of state. James F. Kuntz pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in 2008 while in New Jersey, according to published reports, and Edward Buenter was accused in a civil lawsuit of abusing four boys in the late 1960s.
In a statement, Santa Clara University said it supports “the release of the names and statuses of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse.” It also said it would “cooperate with any lawful investigation.”
The Oakland diocese has vowed to release a list of priests credibly accused of child sex abuse, and the San Francisco archdiocese has hinted that it also is looking at doing a similar self-reporting. The Oakland report is expected late next month. It’s not clear what effect the law firm’s disclosure — or previous reporting — will have on Oakland’s report.
Oakland diocese spokeswoman Helen Osman said she could not comment on Tuesday’s report while it prepares its own list.
“We are actively reviewing files,” Osman said. “We don’t have a definitive date yet for the release, but I am anticipating immediately after Thanksgiving.”
In 2004, the San Francisco archdiocese named 56 abusive priests, significantly less than the 135 named in Tuesday’s report. Spokesman Mike Brown said the San Francisco Archdiocese plans to look “carefully” at the names released by the law firms.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has not yet decided if he’ll follow bishops in San Jose and Oakland, who are releasing names. Brown said the church is “going through our files,” and Cordileone is holding listening tours with parishioners. A decision could come “in the next month or even shorter,” Brown said.
At a San Francisco news conference Tuesday, Anderson spoke about the lawsuit filed earlier this month against every California diocese asking for the church to turn over their books.
“The bishops made a conscious choice to protect those offenders, but they also made a conscious choice to protect themselves and officials complicit in their crimes,” said Anderson, who earlier this month released a report naming 307 offenders in the Los Angeles diocese.
Patrick Wall, a former priest who works with the Minnesota law firm and helped compile the list, said the names were pulled from public sources.
“This is a secret sitting right in front of their eyes through open sources,” he said. “That’s what drives me nuts.”
The report comes in the wake of a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report about abuse in several diocese there, as well as more and more law enforcement agencies across the country launching their own probes. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has a policy of not confirming whether his office has opened an investigation, but several Bay Area victim advocates said they met with senior staff from the AG’s office on Sept. 26 in the state building in Oakland.
“They told us that they didn’t have the same powers as the AG in (Pennsylvania), but they seemed concerned, and they asked us for additional information on a couple of topics,” said Melanie Sakoda, a member of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
“They asked good questions and clearly were tuned into the situation,” SNAP official and priest abuse victim Dan McNevin said. “They shared that they had already been in touch with dozens of other states aboutut the status of those investigations.”