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December 16, 2004

Abuse payoffs may take longer

More priests, victims than expected

Victims of sexual abuse by priests of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati will have to wait longer than expected for compensation, and the claims involve more priests than previously reported, officials said Wednesday.

Matt Garretson, a lawyer overseeing the $3 million victims' fund, says he misjudged processing time because he underestimated the number of victims and priests.

Garretson expects to finish work on 132 claims in late February. He had hoped to complete processing by year's end, but said he based that date on an estimated 90 people filing by the Sept. 1 deadline.

"I owe it to each and every one of these victims to be fair and accurate ... we validate every claim so we can say we reserved the fund for the true victims of abuse."

The compensation-fund complaints have named 65 priests - 16 more priests than the archdiocese had disclosed in a report 10 months ago.

But that report focused solely on sex allegations involving children. Garretson said he believes many of the 16 newly accused priests may have involved adult victims. He did not have a breakdown of those figures Wednesday.

A few more priests could be added to the list after further investigation, Garretson said, because a handful of pending claims involve victims who were unable to give names of their abusers.

The archdiocese set up the fund last year as part of a plea agreement between the archdiocese and Hamilton County prosecutors. In that agreement, the archdiocese was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of failing to report child sexual abuse from 1978 to 1982.

But the compensation fund encompasses complaints dating to the 1950s and even at least one case to around 1930, Garretson said. Some of the complaints allege sexually harassing comments to adults, Garretson said, while others allege sexual conduct with children.

Christy Miller, leader of Cincinnati Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, commended Garretson for being conscientious, even if it means victims must wait longer for compensation.

But she wants the archdiocese to confront the issues more openly - and to disclose the names of the newly accused priests.

Miller, 36, of West Chester Township, noted that she is among about 70 people who have filed civil lawsuits against the archdiocese instead of joining the victims' fund. She said that means there are at least 200 victims of priest sexual abuse in the Greater Cincinnati area, and she believes many still haven't come forward.

"The number of victims continues to go up and the number of priests continues to go up," Miller said.

"It makes me keep asking: When did they know about these additional priests? And what are they doing about it?" Miller said.

Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco said many of the accused priests are deceased. Among the newly accused priests, some may still be under investigation, Andriacco said.

"A lot of these, we didn't know about before (the Sept. 1 deadline)," he said.

Andriacco didn't have specifics about the 16 additional cases because he said no one had compared the list of 49 previously disclosed priests to the list of 65 priests in the compensation-fund claims.

However, he said, "We do not have any substantiated claims of child abuse against any priest who is now in ministry."

Andriacco said names of the accused priests would not be disclosed unless claims are found to be credible. "Even priests are entitled to the presumption of innocence," he said.

If investigations show that there is good reason to believe an accusation might be true, priests are removed from active ministry, Andriacco said.

Posted by Nealus at December 16, 2004 02:07 PM

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