Tag Archives: molestation

The Miami Herald reports: At least a dozen new victims have come forward to claim they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein even as the multimillionaire money manager tries to convince a federal judge to allow him to await a sex trafficking trial from the comfort of the same $77 million Manhattan mansion where he’s accused of luring teenage girls …

The Associated Press reports: Singer R. Kelly, already facing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, was arrested in Chicago Thursday on a federal grand jury indictment listing 13 counts including sex crimes and obstruction of justice. U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick said the R&B singer was taken into custody about 7 p.m. local time and was being held …

Courthouse News reports: Wealthy pedophile Jeffrey Epstein asked a federal judge Thursday for leave to await trial inside his $77 million mansion — an Upper East Side building that allegedly doubled as his sex-trafficking hub, where authorities claim to have recovered a large stash of child pornography. “Mr. Epstein stands ready and willing to pay for 24-hour armed guards should …

The Washington Post reports: Federal prosecutors on Monday unsealed new sex trafficking charges against Jeffrey Epstein, alleging the politically connected multimillionaire abused dozens of female minors at his Manhattan and Florida homes. Epstein — who was arrested over the weekend and is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan — had previously pleaded guilty to Florida state charges of …

The New York Times reports: Jeffrey E. Epstein, a billionaire New York financier long accused of molesting dozens of girls, was arrested on Saturday and charged with sex trafficking by federal prosecutors, an extraordinary turn of events in a long and sordid criminal case. Two people with knowledge of the charges said on Saturday night that Mr. Epstein had been …

Huntsville’s CBS News affiliate reports: The lead pastor of a Florence church has been arrested, accused of sexually abusing young boys in his congregation. John Martin was taken into custody Friday evening and booked into the Lauderdale County Detention Center on four counts of Sexual Abuse. Martin has been a pastor at Lighthouse Baptist Church on Sweetwater Avenue for nine …

The Associated Press reports: A Southern Baptist pastor who supported legislation in Texas that would have criminalized abortions has been arrested on charges of child sex abuse, accused of repeatedly molesting a teenage relative over the course of two years. Stephen Bratton is accused of subjecting the relative to inappropriate touching that escalated to “sexual intercourse multiple times a day …

ABC News reports: A former youth leader was arrested Wednesday for lewd and lascivious molestation, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Matuszek is the owner/operator of Chick-fil-A at Westfield Countryside mall in Clearwater. Detectives say between August 2014 and April 2015 Heather Matuszek, 32, inappropriately touched an underage girl who was in her youth group at the Clearwater Community …

The Guardian reports: George Pell is arguing his child sexual abuse convictions should be overturned or he should receive a retrial, because of a “fundamental irregularity” that prevented him from entering a not-guilty plea in front of his jury. The Victorian court of appeal has released Pell’s grounds for appeal against his December conviction for sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys …

Buffalo’s ABC affiliate reports: The New York State Senate passed a series of historic reforms Monday that will allow victims of child sexual abuse to seek justice through the court system once they become adults. The Senate unanimously passed the long-awaited Child Victims Act as victims of priests from the Diocese of Buffalo and other institutions looked on. Victims of …

The New York Times reports: Four men who were repeatedly sexually abused as children by a religion teacher at a Catholic church in Brooklyn received a $27.5 million settlement from the Diocese of Brooklyn on Tuesday, in one of the largest settlements ever awarded to individual victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. The settlement comes two weeks after …

Via press release from Catholic League head Bill Donohue: Conservative Catholics have been especially strident in their comments. Unfortunately, they are being played. To be specific, their call for grand jury investigations in every state, and the wholesale release of priest personnel files, is playing into the hands of the enemies of the Catholic Church. So are their appeals to …

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports: Investigators “have evidence that the Vatican had knowledge of the cover-up,” involving priests accused of sexually abusing thousands of Pennsylvania children over decades, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Tuesday morning on NBC’s Today show. “I can’t speak specifically to Pope Francis, but I think the broader issues here with the Vatican knowing about this, with …

Just in from Catholic League president Bill Donohue: While some Catholics are spinning out of control over cases of sexual abuse committed by the dead and the laicized, MTV will present the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award to Jennifer Lopez on August 21. No one from the media, and certainly no finger-pointing Catholic, will question why there is an award …

NBC News reports: Pope Francis on Monday issued a letter to Catholics around the world condemning sexual abuse and cover-up, and demanding accountability in response to new revelations in the United States of decades of misconduct by the Catholic Church. Francis begged forgiveness for the pain suffered by victims and said lay Catholics must be involved in any effort to …

The Associated Press reports: A Pennsylvania bishop named in a grand jury report on rampant sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy said Friday he has “profound remorse” and offers his “heartfelt apology” to the victims. Speaking at a Mass of Forgiveness, Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer opened by reading the first paragraph of this week’s stunning report that said more than …

From a Christian Newswire press release: When asked about what is at the root of the crisis Cardinal Burke said “it seems clear in light of these recent terrible scandals that indeed there is a homosexual culture, not only among the clergy but even within the hierarchy, which needs to be purified at the root. It is of course a …

CNN reports: The Vatican broke its silence on Thursday about a Pennsylvania grand jury report that detailed decades of sexual abuses by priests and cover-ups by bishops, calling the accusations “criminal and morally reprehensible.” “Regarding the report made public in Pennsylvania this week, there are two words that can express the feelings faced with these horrible crimes: shame and sorrow,” …

Catholic League president Bill Donohue today posted a lengthy “debunking” of media reports about the still-unfolding and massive molestation scandal wracking the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. Donohue’s missive includes his usual charges of anti-Catholic bigotry and personal attacks on “salacious” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. There’s also this: Shapiro said that “Church officials routinely and purposely described the abuse as …

CNN reports: The Vatican has declined to respond to an explosive grand jury report detailing decades of sexual abuse and cover-ups by priests and bishops in Pennsylvania, refusing even to say whether church officials in Rome have read the damaging documents. “We have no comment at this time,” Paloma Ovejero, deputy director of the Vatican’s press office, said Wednesday. But …