Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label child sex crimes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child sex crimes. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

FBI: 30-40 children sex trafficked within metro Detroit during Detroit Auto Show


DETROIT (WXYZ) — The FBI says 30-40 children are trafficking within the greater Detroit area during the North American International Auto Show. The bureau joined Detroit Police Chief James Craig to talk about human trafficking ahead of the auto show opening to the public on Saturday.

According to Michael Glennon with the FBI, there is a 280-300 percent increase in sex trafficking workers in the area. Ten percent of them are under the age of 18.

Chief Craig said that on Wednesday, VICE unit got a tip on a missing girl. They followed up, and found out that the missing girl was abducted and she was sexually assaulted. The suspect was preparing for her and another missing female to move them to Atlanta to continue with sex trafficking activity.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations says human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes, and is akin to modern-day slavery.

"Victims pay to be illegally transported into the United States, only to find themselves in the thrall of traffickers," HSI said. "They are forced into prostitution, involuntary labor and other forms of servitude to repay debts - often entry into the United States."



In certain cases, human trafficking victims are children, surrounded by an unfamiliar culture and language without identification documents.

"Human trafficking cases are notoriously difficult to pursue," said Steve Francis, HSI special agent in charge. "Victims and their families are often intimated into compliance with the threat of violence and other forms of abusive coercion."

"We urge members of the public to educate themselves on these heinous crimes so they recognize the indicators. An educated public can help law enforcement rescue individuals in these situations and ensure those committing these acts are punished.”

HSI says recognizing key indicators of human trafficking is the first step in identifying victims and can help save a life. Not all indicators listed below are present in every human trafficking situation, and the presence or absence of any of the indicators is not necessarily proof of human trafficking.

Does the person appear disconnected from family, friends, community organizations, or houses of worship?

Has a child stopped attending school?

Has the person had a sudden or dramatic change in behavior?

Is a juvenile engaged in commercial sex acts?

Is the person disoriented or confused, or showing signs of mental or physical abuse?

Does the person have bruises in various stages of healing?

Is the person fearful, timid, or submissive?

Does the person show signs of having been denied food, water, sleep, or medical care?

Is the person often in the company of someone to whom he or she defers? Or someone who seems to be in control of the situation, e.g., where they go or who they talk to?

Does the person appear to be coached on what to say?

Is the person living in unsuitable conditions?

Does the person lack personal possessions and appear not to have a stable living situation?

Does the person have freedom of movement? Can the person freely leave where they live? Are there unreasonable security measures?

Does the person appear to have all their belongings in a plastic bag, easy to grab if forced to quickly move locations?

Is the juvenile using a false ID or lying about his or her age?

Does the person appear to not be familiar with his or her surroundings, e.g., not know their location?

HSI urges the public to not attempted to confront a suspected trafficker directly or alert a victim to any suspicions. 
If you notice suspicious activity, please contact HSI through its tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services provided the below statement:

Davenport Shelter is licensed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services as a child-caring agency for youth who are in the care of the department. The Division of Child Welfare Licensing at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services today began a special investigation of Davenport Shelter as a result of the information that surfaced yesterday. The department will conduct an expeditious and thorough investigation.

Case specifics about children in the care of the department are confidential.

MDHHS takes very seriously its duty to protect the safety and well-being of children and thoroughly investigates child safety issues at licensed facilities. Human trafficking of vulnerable children is a national problem that is of extreme concern to the department.




Thursday, January 17, 2019

Movie filmed in Genesee County raising awareness about human trafficking debuts

by Veronica Meadows


Changing stigmas surrounding human trafficking.
That’s what a movie filmed in Genesee County is doing.
"Ring of Silence" made its debut at Flint's Capitol Theater.
Human trafficking is an issue that's not just happening in Genesee County where director Nicole Bowers Wallace wrote Ring of Silence, but across the globe.
“The more I found how prevalent this epidemic is not only in the cities but the suburbs I knew I had to do this movie,” she said.
Hundreds came to see the debut for Ring of Silence. It's shown through the lens of a 17 year old girl. She falls in love with an older man, eventually leading her to the world of sex trafficking. Michigan State Police Detective Trooper Amy Belanger says that's often how it happens.
“Usually the male in the relationship makes them think they have this future together and that's how this movie starts out and when he flips the switch then you start noticing changes. She's raped she's sexually, assaulted,” Belanger said.

Belanger works with Flushing Township Police Chief Brian Fairchild on the Genesee County Human Trafficking Task Force. He hopes this movie sheds light on the signs parents and teens should look for.
“Change in behavior, change in attitude, a sudden lack of attention in school and distancing not wanting you to know who they're dating,” Fairchild said.
Above all Bowers Wallace hopes this film open's people's eyes.
“Most people have no idea what's happening and how big the problem is and that's the biggest thing I want to take away,” she said.
Organizations across Flint stepped up with donations to make this movie happen.


Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Teen missing for nearly a year was kept as ‘sex slave’ in trailer, police say

POSTED 5:00 PM, JANUARY 15, 2019, BY 


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Police have arrested seven suspected human traffickers after a 16-year-old boy who had been missing for nearly a year was found in a “filthy” trailer St. Petersburg, Florida.

“The teenage victim in this case was lured with promises of a better life,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said at a press conference Monday. “Instead, he was moved into a filthy trailer and used as a sex slave for nearly a year.”

The investigation began on May 9, 2018 after Louisiana officials contacted police in St. Petersburg with information about another missing boy, 17, who they believed had been lured through the online gaming app Discord.


According to police, the suspects used it to communicate with the teen, who they picked up and drove to St. Petersburg.

When investigators went to a mobile home in North St. Petersburg where Louisiana authorities said he was, they found both teens living in the trailer with four men, Mark Earl Dennis, Andrew Barry Dennis, Curtis Lee Gruwell and Michael Wayne Schwartz.

When investigators went to a mobile home in North St. Petersburg where Louisiana authorities said he was, they found both teens living in the trailer with four men, Mark Earl Dennis, Andrew Barry Dennis, Curtis Lee Gruwell and Michael Wayne Schwartz.

The suspect we were looking for in the human trafficking case is in custody. Curtis Gruwell turned himself in to #stpetepd this morning.

He’s charged w conspiracy to commit human trafficking and interference with custody.

Dennis initially told authorities he was the 16-year-old’s father, which turned out to be false, police said.

The 16-year-old, from Marion County, Florida, was 15 when he disappeared. Police say his family found a note from her son saying not to look for him. Investigators now believe one of the suspects, Eleanor Faye McGlamory, had befriended the boy and lured him to the trailer.


“For the next year, he was introduced to sadomasochism and used as a sex slave by Mark and Anddrew Dennis, Gruwell, Schwartz and their associated, Michael Ray Blasdel and JR Gauthier,” police said in a news release. During the time he was held in the mobile home he did not attend school and wasn’t given medical treatment, according to police.

All seven face charges of conspiracy to commit human trafficking and interference with custody. Mark Earl Dennis, Andrew Barry Dennis, Michael Ray Blasdel and JR Gauthier also face charges of sexual battery with a child under age 16.



Tuesday, January 15, 2019

State police encouraging truckers to report potential trafficking




POSTED 6:47 PM, JANUARY 14, 2019, BY UPDATED AT 06:48PM, JANUARY 14, 2019

WEST MICHIGAN -- Michigan State Police are continuing the fight against human trafficking by enlisting the help of commercial truck drivers. January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. So MSP along with officials in Ohio and Indiana are taking this week especially to alert truck drivers about human trafficking and asking them to keep an eye out for anything that seems out of the ordinary.


Motor carrier officer Jason Zylstra said, "They give us a lot of good tips about accidents that happen, about damage to the roadways, the 100 street bridge."

Zylstra said he spreads the word about human trafficking through an initiative and organization called "Truckers Against Trafficking" during routine inspection stops and at rest areas. MSP dubbed truck drivers the eyes and ears along highways, rest stops, and parking lots across the country.

“You see things, and you just don’t think twice about it. [Whereas] trucker drivers... they know that common environment," he explained.

Zylstra said, "So when they see something and they’re like why is this person…. it’s 10 degrees and that girl looks like she’s 15. She’s dressed in a miniskirt. What is she doing here?"

To know where to look for and who to call, the officer hands out cards and pamphlets to drivers. If you'd like to learn more about the program you can click here. The help line number is 1-888-3737-888.


Monday, January 14, 2019

In-N-Out Burger Matches Donations 3-To-1 To Fight Human Trafficking

The sign reads, “Human trafficking hides in plain sight. Help us fight this injustice.” It then encourages customers to donate at the register and says that In-N-Out has pledged to match all donations 3-to-1. There were also cash collection tins right at the register, and a few other posters up in the restaurant. How cool is that?

Human sex trafficking is one of our world’s biggest issues.

According to Equality Now, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting gender equality, trafficking women and children for sexual exploitation is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. The scary part is that this is despite the fact that international law and the laws of 134 countries criminalize sex trafficking. At least 20.9 million adults and children are bought and sold worldwide into commercial sexual slavery or forced labor. Almost 6 in 10 identified trafficking survivors were trafficked for sexual exploitation, and women and girls make up 96% of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Many organizations have joined the fight against this massive problem in our society, and now our favorite burger joint is one of them.
Slave 2 Nothing anti-trafficking campaign
Throughout the month of January—which is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month—In-N-Out Burger has been encouraging customers to donate to their nonprofit organization Slave 2 Nothing and help fight sexual exploitation.

According to the organization’s website:

“During January, in support of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, In-N-Out Burger® will match your donation 3-to-1 up to $250,000. Across all 50 states, victims of human trafficking silently cry for help. You can help us fight this injustice and bring hope to thousands in our very own communities. Human trafficking, also known as modern-day slavery, involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation through forced labor or commercial sex acts.”

Then, they list some heartbreaking sex trafficking stats. Check it out:

You can read more about In-N-Out’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit by clicking here. We took this info from their site during last year’s campaign:

“The Slave2Nothing Foundation’s mission is to free people from being enslaved to any person or substance. We will fulfill our mission to combat human trafficking by:
  • creating awareness, prevention, protection, and partnerships
  • by assisting survivors by encouraging and supporting effective programs and solutions.
In addition, we will assist individuals and their families in gaining freedom and healing from substance abuse and its effects through supporting programs that thrive in promotion, awareness, and healing from the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse. We believe that together, we can help improve the lives of the thousands of people who become enslaved in human trafficking and/or substance abuse every year…

Slave 2 Nothing is supported primarily through donor contributions and internal fundraising activities sponsored by In-N-Out Burger. In addition, In-N-Out Burger pays all costs associated with Slave 2 Nothing, so that every penny raised goes directly to educating and eliminating human trafficking and supporting substance abuse treatment and prevention services.”

The company has been carrying out their promise by placing the cause front and center in their restaurants. We recently stopped at an In-N-Out nearby and were pleased when we saw the following sign right in the middle of the menu, and off to the side of the line at the registers:

All donations at In-N-Out are then collected by Slave 2 Nothing, In-N-Out’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to helping those caught up in slavery, and then dispersed in four ways:

Who will be the next to step up?
We at Fight the New Drug applaud In-N-Out Burger for joining in on this important cause and lending their resources to the fight.

If more companies placed an emphasis on making an impact on this issue that affects millions of people globally every day, we would be much closer to ending sexual exploitation in our society. And that’s something everyone should be able to get on board with.

"A family member was trading a child for rent': Familial sex trafficking a problem in the Upstate



By: Kirsten Glavin

Upstate advocates talk Human Trafficking Awareness:

GREENVILLE CO., SC - She was a straight-A student with parents in law enforcement.

Growing up, Cat Wehunt said her family was close, but looking back on her life, the 26-year-old could not remember a time where sexual abuse didn't exist in her life.

"I knew that I felt violated, I knew that my body felt violated, but I just didn't know how or what it meant or why it was happening to me," she explained.

Wehunt told a crowd seated at Greenville Health System Thursday that at 12 years old she was raped, and at 14 she had been sold for sex by her older cousin.

Although he was her trafficker, she said she still trusted him because he was family.

"These are the people that are supposed to take care of you, these are the people who are supposed to protect you and know the most and are closest with you, so you already have that bond."

Wehunt's situation is common in South Carolina.

In 2016, familial trafficking was the most common form of relationship between a trafficker and victim in the state, according to the Attorney General's Office.

"We do see a number of cases where family members are trading children," said Jonathan Bastoni, task force officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and sex trafficking investigator at the Greenville County Sheriff's Office.

"We've worked at least 2 in the last year, one where a family member was trading a child for rent."

Bastoni has helped coordinate large-scale, multi-agency prostitution stings like 'Operation Millstone' in February, where 7-News exclusively went undercover to capture investigators taking traffickers into custody.

Last year, the county's sex trafficking unit said they made 19 arrests, and added that they are now just starting to see traffickers go through the court system after the human trafficking law first went into effect 6 years ago.

"We're beginning to see how our judges will interpret this law and what kind of sentencing we are going to get for this, and we obviously hoping that they'll give good sentences that are applicable to the crime," said Bastoni. "But we're beginning to see that, and that's kind of exciting to look forward to in the future."

Jasmine Road is an organization in Greenville that offers services to sex trafficking victims and provides help.  On their website, they say they "offer women who are trapped in a cycle of sexual exploitation and addiction a path to freedom, a haven for healing, and the opportunity to flourish, leading to generational change and the betterment of our Greenville community."

For more information, click here: https://www.jasmineroad.org/

Switch is another local organization that helps fight human trafficking in the Upstate and provides services to victims. On their website, they say: "Since 2012, we have led the effort to fight human trafficking and sexual exploitation in the Upstate of South Carolina. We have spoken to over 21,000 community members and have served over 115 individuals on the road to restoration."

For more information, click here: https://www.switchsc.org/

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Lawsuit: Mormon Church failed to keep child safe from abuse




Of the five temples in Arizona, with one more coming in Tucson, all but one have on top a golden figure pointed east. Hannah Gaber/azcentral.com
Another member of the Navajo Nation is suing the Mormon church, saying he was abused in a now-defunct program that sent children into foster care for the school year. 
Unlike similar lawsuits, the complaint filed Tuesday in tribal court doesn't seek changes to the policies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It seeks unspecified monetary damages for decades of alleged emotional harm, including attempted suicide.
"This poor guy. He was devastated by what happened, just devastated," said David Jordan, an attorney for the man identified as LB in court documents. "He has not escaped it his entire life."
LB was baptized into the Mormon church before he started the fifth grade in 1984 and placed with a Mormon foster family in Utah. He was one of thousands of Native Americans who participated in the church's Indian Student Placement Program that aimed to give children educational opportunities they didn't have on the reservation.
The voluntary program started in the late 1940s and ended around 2000.
The lawsuit says LB was sexually molested three times in the 1980s by a church bishop who lived across the street from his foster family, twice at the bishop's home and once at a church office. The bishop persuaded LB to return to his home the second time by offering him candy, the lawsuit states.
LB told his foster mother about the abuse, but she accused him of lying. She sent him to bed without dinner and grounded him another time, according to the lawsuit. His foster father spanked him for reporting abuse to a caseworker, the lawsuit states. LB also said he told a teacher.
LB was sent back home to the Navajo Nation after he stole from his foster family, part of his plan to get kicked out of the foster program, the lawsuit states.


The Salt Lake Temple is shown in Salt Lake City. (Photo: Rick Bowmer/Associated Press)

The lawsuit says the church failed to keep LB safe and did not have a way to supervise those who participated in the placement program. The church did not report the abuse to law enforcement, the victim's family or the public, the lawsuit states.
"If somebody takes your child and says 'I will keep them safe,' I think the highest duty imposed on that person should be safety and security until they're returned," Jordan said.

The church's media representatives didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. But they previously have said the church works to prevent abuse.


Jordan filed a similar lawsuit in October on behalf of a Navajo woman identified as CB who alleges she was sexually abused in 1976 by her foster brother, who threatened he would do worse things if she told anyone. She was moved to another home after reporting the abuse, the lawsuit filed in tribal court states.
Jordan also is representing a Navajo woman identified as BN whose case was part of a group reportedly settled last year, but she wanted to move forward with the claims she first filed in 2016, he said.
The church has sought to keep tribal courts from hearing the cases, arguing the Navajo Nation doesn't have jurisdiction. But a tribal judge says it does because the program was based on the reservation, even though the children were sent to homes in Utah, Arizona and Idaho.
The church once believed it had a duty to restore the heritage of Native Americans who referred to as Lamanites, or the wicked of two civilizations that emerged when God guided families to the Americas. The church changed the introduction to the Book of Mormon a few years ago to say that Lamanites are among the ancestors of Native Americans.

Friday, December 21, 2018

Human trafficking task force searches Austintown home

The task force has been investigating since August


AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) - The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force searched a home in Austintown Thursday morning.
Officials were on scene at a home in the 3900 block of Dunbar, apparently looking into electronic child pornography.

The task force has been investigating since August, and finally had enough evidence to conduct a search of the home. 
Major Jeff Allen says the task force started investigating when an officer traced activity from an online child pornography site to the home.
"Images and video of child pornography were being viewed at this home, so we executed a search warrant here," Allen says.
Children are trafficked by the makers of the pornography, who also make money off selling the images. 
The pornographers learn to sell and conceal their images in high-tech methods, which makes these investigations difficult.
"It's very difficult. It changes daily just like any other crime. When law enforcement catches on, they find a different route and we have to learn that route. It's a constant battle," Allen says.
These investigations are also difficult from an emotional standpoint. Special Agent Jim Ciotti says officers have to view images of children being abused and exploited during the investigation.
"It's bad. Our agents are required to go through what is called vicarious trauma training every year. We just have to make sure they are doing well. The images you see are horrendous," Ciotti says.
He says they do it to keep children safe. 
"Research has shown that 50 percent of these individuals that look at child porn are hands-on on child porn."

Thursday, December 20, 2018

A hub for child trafficking? Only 50% of total children missing in Delhi return home safely

New Delhi: Reports of missing children are not so uncommon these days. And Delhi being the ‘crime capital’ tops here as well. As per government records, thousands of children were reported missing in the national capital every year. Among them barely 50% are recovered or returned safely to their homes.

Moreover, the national data on the child disappearances by “TrackChild” – a portal by Ministry of Women and Child Development – revealed that, in the past 12 months, 6,295 cases of missing children were reported while only 3,245 (may include missing children from past years) were recovered. More than three thousand children still remain untraced.

If we look at the data of Delhi itself, a concerning tally of 17 children went missing from the national capital every day in the past 12 months.

As on December 19, TrackChild shows that 401 children went missing in last one month while 27 in the last 24 hours. A detailed analysis of the yearly figures reveals that in every 3 hours, 2 children go missing in Delhi.
In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, 1169, 2074 and 1578 children went missing respectively in the past 12 months. However, these numbers are way below the figures from the national capital.

Organised crime

Some of the reasons behind the cases of missing children could be kidnapping, abduction, trafficking, illegal adoption, and run away due to miscommunication with their parents.

Reena Banerjee – a social activist and founder of NGO, Nav Srishti Organisation – told DB Post that there are organised gangs behind the abduction of children from the capital. These gangs are employing the kidnapped children into various money- making modes, which depend on the age and sex of the child.

Infants below the age of two are most likely to be illegally adopted by desperate infertile married couples – to whom these kids are sold by traffickers.

While girls are dragged into sex trade after being injected with hormonal injections to induce early puberty.

Abducted children are also murdered for organ trafficking, tissues, or other body products, usually for transplantation. There is a global need or demand for healthy body parts for transplantation.

“Children abducted from Delhi were sent out of the city according to the demands while the children kidnapped from other states were taken to the capital”, Banerjee said.

According to her, the children residing in undeveloped areas and slums on the outskirts of the city are the easy targets of the kidnappers.

(Story by: Shaihzad Abid)


Wednesday, December 19, 2018

More than 500 priests accused of sexual abuse not yet publicly identified by Catholic church, Illinois attorney general finds

By Elvia Malagon
The determination is part of a preliminary report made public Wednesday by Madigan’s office, which has been investigating Catholic clergy sexual abuse of minors following revelations during the summer of widespread abuse and cover-ups by Catholic officials in Pennsylvania. The report was critical of the six Catholic dioceses that govern parishes across Illinois for their lack of transparency and flawed investigations.
Although the report says that “Clergy sexual abuse of minors in Illinois is significantly more extensive than the Illinois Dioceses previously reported,” it does not estimate how many of the allegations against the 690 clergy should have been deemed credible. Some of the allegations go back decades.
The report says Illinois dioceses “have lost sight of both a key tenet” of policies laid out by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as “the most obvious human need as a result of these abhorrent acts of abuse: the healing and reconciliation of survivors.”
“Long after legal remedies have expired, the Catholic Church has the ability and moral responsibility to survivors to offer support and services, and to take swift action to remove abusive clergy,” the report states.
All Illinois Catholic dioceses targeted in sex abuse cover-up lawsuit »
In a prepared statement, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich acknowledged that victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests continue to live with the pain. He said the archdiocese has been looking into the issue of sexual abuse since at least 1991, when then-Cardinal Joseph Bernardin formed a special commission. He also cited the archdiocese’s Office for the Protection of Children and Youth as a way it has tried to help survivors.

“I want to express again the profound regret of the whole church for our failures to address the scourge of clerical sexual abuse,” Cupich said in the statement. “It is the courage of the victim-survivors that has shed purifying light on this dark chapter in church history.”
Madigan stressed the findings issued in the report are based on a preliminary investigation, and it was too soon to say what, if any, action should be brought by her office. She said she would like to see her successor, Democrat Kwame Raoul, continue the inquiry next year.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Raoul committed to continuing the inquiry once his term begins.
One of the reasons the preliminary findings were made public now is that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is expected to meet in January at Mundelein Seminary in suburban Chicago to discuss the ongoing clergy sex abuse scandal, Madigan said.
“The Catholic church needs to prioritize survivors,” Madigan said in a telephone interview. “They can’t continue to prioritize criminal clergy or prioritize the preservation of their assets. They have to follow their own charter and heal the survivors.”
William Kunkel, the general counsel for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said he doesn’t anticipate the public list of Chicago-area priests with credible allegations of abuse to grow. The archdiocese has no immediate plans to review past allegations — some of which go back decades — because it has already reported past allegations to prosecutors in Cook and Lake counties, Kunkel said. In cases involving a priest who has died, children are no longer at risk, Kunkel said.
“We expect to add no further names at this point. We think the list is a complete list of all priests, of all clergy who have worked in the archdiocese who have substantiated claims,” Kunkel said.
The archdiocese is working with an independent expert to review its policies and procedures on handling abuse allegations, Kunkel said.
The AG’s report found that in many cases, the dioceses did not conduct proper investigations into allegations, particularly when the priest had died, left the ministry or was a member of a religious order and therefore not under the authority of a diocese.
In some cases, the dioceses referred an allegation of abuse to a priest’s religious order rather than investigating the abuse themselves. In other cases, an allegation was not investigated at all if a lawsuit had been filed, if the person making the allegation wanted to remain anonymous, if a police agency was investigating the incident or if a priest had left the United States, according to the report.
Madigan’s office found instances in which the dioceses used personal information against the person making the allegation to discredit them, which then led to the accusation not being found credible. The report didn’t specify when the dioceses used such tactics.
In addition, terminology used by the various state dioceses differs, making it difficult to understand when an allegation of abuse was deemed credible. The dioceses governing the Chicago area and Joliet area were the only ones in the state that made information public about sexual abuse before the attorney general began investigating, according to the report. Last month, the Archdiocese of Chicago added 10 names to an online list of clergy with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse involving children.

It wasn’t until this fall that the other dioceses across the state made efforts to make the information public, Madigan said.
Madigan expects the list of priests accused of abusing children to grow as investigators sort through the allegations involving hundreds of priests across the state. Before the investigation began, there were about 140 Catholic priests in Illinois who had been publicly named as having sexually abused children. In the four months of the investigation, that list has already gotten longer as Madigan’s office began digging through files, she said.
The office of the attorney general created a hotline for victims of abuse, and it has already fielded 300 calls, Madigan said.
“These survivors, they are calling us recognizing that the criminal justice system may not be one where they will get relief, but they are seeking a measure of justice, they are seeking closure,” Madigan said by phone.
“They are seeking an ability to move forward with their lives and a very large part of that is the church taking their allegations seriously, investigating them and acknowledging the crimes that took place, and publicly disclosing the names of the individuals who committed those crimes.”
The preliminary report found that some victims of abuse who had previously come forward were never even told the results, if any, of investigations.
None of the dioceses across the state have taken steps to put in place policies to hold officials, such as Catholic bishops, responsible for covering up abuse of children, according to the report.
Larry Antonsen, a Chicago leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he’s glad the office of the attorney general is looking into abuse by clergy. He would like to see the clergy files be made public, and he would also like investigators to question religious orders, not just the dioceses, about the abuse allegations.
“I think what she’s doing is the right thing,” Antonsen said about Madigan’s inquiry. “I also think that there should be more of an emphasis on changing the statute of limitation(s). I think that would be a big thing.”
Some religious orders have made recent efforts to name priests with credible reports of abuse. This week, the Midwest Province Jesuits, part of a Catholic religious order, released a list of dozens of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse.