Pedophile ex-priest still guilty, Nunavut appeal court rules
Convictions upheld; appeal court to rule later on sentence
BETH BROWN
WARNING: This article presents information that may be disturbing for some readers.
The pedophile ex-priest Eric Dejaeger remains guilty on 32 sex crimes committed mostly against Inuit children between 1976 and 1982, after the Court of Appeal of Nunavut, on Sept. 25, rejected his bid to have those convictions overturned.
“The conviction appeal will be dismissed with reasons to follow,” Judge Jo’Anne Strekaf said, after hearing lawyer submissions for about an hour and a half.
Justice Robert Kilpatrick sentenced Dejaeger in 2015 to 19 years in prison for crimes he committed mostly in Igloolik, where he worked as an Oblate missionary.
Defence lawyer Scott Cowan argued that Kilpatrick’s ruling “falls into legal error,” because Dejaeger (Kilpatrick?) ignored appellant evidence and treating witness accounts unequally.
The ruling relies on “banal” details, fading childhood memories, and lacks “confirmatory evidence,” Cowan said. But Crown counsel Nick Devlin said Kilpatrick’s acquittal on 40 other counts shows that only credible evidence was considered in Dejaeger’s conviction.
“Counts on which he was acquitted span from full rapes to fondling,” Devlin said. To be upheld in court, victim accounts needed to be clear, childlike, embellishment free, and follow a believable order, Devlin said.
One such account from among Dejaeger’s convictions came from a girl who remembered the man placing a plastic bag to catch her blood before she was raped. She was less than 10 at the time and said she blacked out from the pain.
While victim accounts did vary greatly, Devlin said they all carried one clear message. That is, “Eric Dejaeger’s lap is not a place you want to end up.”
The three court of appeal judges decided to dismiss the appeal of Kilpatrick’s convictions over a 15-minute break.
Sentence appeal
The two-part appeal also sought to have Dejaeger’s sentence reduced. Defence counsel Yoni Rahamim argued that Kilpatrick’s sentence should have considered a five-year sentence that Dejaeger served for abusing children in Baker Lake in the years following the Igloolik offences.
He called the abuse “a continuous time period where the assaults did not stop,” and said the court is at risk of excess sentencing when crime disclosures are “staggered” and sentenced in a “piecemeal” way.
While Dejaeger received a sentence of 19 years, after time served he is required to serve 11 years. Dejaeger was not in court and is currently detained at Warkworth Institution in Ontario. According to Crown counsel, Dejaeger can legally apply for parole this coming Sunday.
In 2015, Dejaeger received an additional five-year concurrent sentence when he pleaded guilty to four 1970s sex crimes against three children in Edmonton.
The Crown called the Kilpatrick sentence “in line” with both the severity of child sex-abuse crimes and with sentencing for “mass victimizers.”
“We’re slowly coming to terms with the severity of child sex abuse,” and the lasting impacts of sexual trauma, Devlin said, calling Dejaeger’s acts “chosen,” “deliberate” and in “breach of trust” with his place of power as a priest in the community.
The appeals court will rule at a later date on the sentencing appeal.
And if there is any justice and any concern for the safety of children, Dejeager will be declared a dangerous offender and spend the rest of his life in prison. He has proven beyond belief that he is an habitual predator of children. There is no possible excuse for allowing him back on the streets of Canada ever again.
Former Chicago priest accused of sexual abuse became school counselor
No-one is checking on ex-priests credibly accused of child sex abuse
By Chuck Goudie and Ross Weidner
CHICAGO (WLS) -- An I-Team investigation has uncovered that a former priest, who church officials say was credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor, worked as a school counselor after leaving Chicago.
Jesus 'Jesse' Garza left his priest position at the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2000 and went to work in Beloit, Wisconsin, public schools. Garza claims school district or state officials never questioned him about his background even though in July of 2005 church investigators say they substantiated claims that Garza forced a boy to perform oral sex on him between 10 and 15 times from January to April 1984.
"The people I worked with in Beloit knew I was a priest, they would joke with me about it," said Garza.
For years, Garza has been listed on the archdiocesan website of priest with substantiated sex abuse allegations. Despite the archdiocese naming him as a child sexual abuser, Garza became licensed as a school counselor in 2006 - specializing in Early Childhood-Adolescence.
"I went through all the licensing in the state of Wisconsin. I mean, I honestly I wondered from time to time if anyone would come question me or say something. I've never heard a word, not once. Not once," Garza said.
Garza said there's no reason that he shouldn't have been counseling children.
"I don't see why not. I mean, there was nothing illegal, to my knowledge, there was nothing illegal that I had done and I didn't see why I couldn't continue doing what I was trained to do," he said.
"I always denied it," he added.
Garza told the I-Team he left Beloit schools in 2015 and doesn't remember the incident the archdiocese found credible even though the church reached a financial settlement with the victim.
"About the only thing I ever heard someone say was whatever happened, the person involved said it was their fault," Garza said. He told the I-Team the alleged victim was 15 at the time.
Garza: "When something like this hangs over you like a cloud, you always wonder..."
Goudie: "What do you wonder?"
Garza: "If this would ever come where somebody would come and start asking you questions about it, I mean, that's, I always thought it would be maybe someone through the district or working would maybe get some information and come talk to me but that never happened."
Garza says he never told anyone, including school and licensing officials, about what happened in Chicago until he opened up to Chuck Goudie. Beloit Public Schools did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this report.
"I can't imagine something more alarming or irresponsible than that," said Marc Pearlman, attorney for abuse victims.
A Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction spokesman says they use the FBI, the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and national licensing databases to check job candidates. They say now, because of the I-Team's reporting, they will check future job candidates and current license holders against the archdiocesan priest sex abuse accusation list.
I-Team investigation raises question: Who's watching priests identified as abusers?
The Archdiocese of Chicago claims they've removed 65 priests from ministry after credible sexual misconduct allegations since 1950. While roughly half of those are now dead, who's watching the others? The I-Team found men who left the priesthood after sexual abuse claims now living in suburban communities just like anyone else.
Walter Turlo was removed from ministry in 2005, resigned and stripped of his standing as a priest after the archdiocese found "reasonable cause to suspect" he had committed numerous incidents of sexual abuse. He denied the allegations at the time. Just last year the archdiocese settled a lawsuit that claimed Turlo repeatedly sexually abused a young boy from 1978-1979. The I-Team found that he lives around the corner from Robinson Elementary School in Southwest Suburban Lyons.
"Those are so long ago and there been resolved and I'm just living as a private person," Turlo said. "There's nothing prohibitive about where I live as a private citizen," he said.
The I-Team also uncovered that the Archdiocese of Chicago currently houses two priests, who the church found to have substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse against them, at the Bishop Lyne Residence, a retirement home for priests in south suburban Palos Park.
Despite being accused of sex crimes with young children, they live right next to the manicured soccer fields and a softball diamond of the village's Centennial Park and just down the road from Camp Palos, a year round Girl Scout Camp.
"That is extremely concerning, those are the type of things that keep me up at night," said abuse victim attorney Marc Pearlman. "Why would they put pedophiles down the street from a camp for kids? That seems to me, it's very irresponsible."
"It's very possible that no one is aware that they're there," says Palos Park Police Chief Joe Miller. He said the Archdiocese calls him to let him know if they're keeping any priests with misconduct issues at the residence, and that they've never had any issues with the men housed there.
"If they left the priesthood, they could move next to you and your family and no one would know," said Miller.
The Archdiocese of Chicago spokesman declined an on camera interview request but sent the I-Team this statement about the Bishop Lyne Residence:
"We informed the management of Holy Family Villa when the two retired priests with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse were moved to the Bishop Lyne Residence. We also informed the Palos Park law enforcement authorities. Neither man has been convicted of a crime or is a registered sex offender, therefore they are not required by law to notify civil authorities of their whereabouts.
"However, the archdiocese requires that they live under the Prayer and Penance Program which includes monitoring by a full-time social worker. The program places substantial restrictions on their activities, including requiring permission to leave the residence, and surveillance of their internet use and financial transactions. The men are 72 and 77 years of age. One has significant mobility issues. They are the only two men with substantiated allegations living in an archdiocese residence."
They also told the I-Team that they have no record of requests for references from subsequent employers or licensing authorities for Jesse Garza. They wrote in a statement that, "an attempt was made to follow up with him in 2005 but there is no record that contact was made with Mr. Garza then or at any other time."
Ex-Idaho Priest Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A former Boise Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges as part of a plea deal.
News outlets report William Thomas Faucher pleaded guilty to five of the 24 charges against him, including distribution of sexually exploitative material, possession of sexually exploitative materials and drug possession.
The other charges were dismissed.
The Idaho Statesman reports Faucher, who will be 73 next month, told the court he sent an email that contained child pornography while in alcohol-induced depression and while being affected by dementia.
Prosecutors say it wasn't one drunken mistake and that more than 2,000 photos and videos depicting child sexual abuse were found on Faucher's computer and phone.
Faucher remains jailed on $1 million bail. He's scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 20.
"At a certain time, someone sent me a large amount of images of child porn," he told the court. "I can remember at some point opening some of those and those are two of the ones I acknowledge I opened and looked at, not for very long."
Mark Manweiler, Faucher's defense attorney, argued before the court that the former priest's $1 million bond was "ridiculous" and should be lowered to $250,000 because he's not a flight risk(and surrendered his passport.
Does seem a bit excessive!
Kassandra Slaven, Ada County deputy prosecutor, asked 4th District Judge Jason Scott to keep Faucher's bond the same — especially since he pleaded guilty. She said there are aggravating facts that warrant the high bond amount. His conduct in this case was long-standing, alarming and egregious, she said.
Pope Defrocks Chilean Priest Sanctioned to Life of 'Penance, Prayer' for Child Sex Abuse Crimes
By Michael Gryboski , Christian Post
Pope Francis has defrocked a Catholic priest in Chile who was at the center of a major sex abuse scandal in what the Vatican is calling an "exceptional" case.
In a statement released Friday, the Vatican announced that Francis defrocked Fernando Karadima of the Archdiocese of Santiago, Chile on Thursday.
"The Holy Father has taken this exceptional decision in conscience and for the good of the Church," the statement translated into English said.
Punishment or Retirement Package
The 88-year-old Karadima had already been found guilty of abusing several minors in 2011, having been forced to retire from ministerial duties, according to NPR, and sanctioned to a lifetime of "penance and prayer." The defrocking is considered the strictest penalty for a priest aside from excommunication.
"The 'penance and prayer,' sanction has been the Vatican's punishment of choice for elderly priests convicted of raping and molesting children," The Telegraph reported. "It has long been criticised by victims as too soft and essentially an all-expenses-paid retirement."
In recent years, the Chilean Catholic Church has been rocked by a sex scandal regarding the alleged coverup of Karadima's actions by church leadership.
Bishop Juan Barros of the Diocese of Osorno in Chile has been accused of covering up the abuses of Karadima. Initially, Francis supported Bishop Barros, claiming that he was innocent of any wrongdoing.
However, by the end of January, Francis changed his mind about the situation and appointed Archbishop Charles Scicluna, an experienced and respected Vatican investigator of clergy sexual abuse, to investigate the claims against Barros.
In April, Francis announced that he would hold a convocation with Chile's bishops in Rome regarding the sex abuse scandal.
I have thought of this meeting as a fraternal moment, without prejudices or pre-conceived ideas, with the sole objective of having the truth in our lives shine," wrote Francis, as translated by the Catholic news site Zenit.
Pope, apparently not inerrant
Francis also acknowledged that there were "serious mistakes" on his part regarding the "assessment and perception of the situation, especially because of a lack of truthful and balanced information."
In response, all 34 of Chile's bishops offered their resignations over the handling of the scandal. Ultimately, three of these resignations were accepted.
Earlier this year, Juan Carlos Cruz, the key witness in the sex abuse scandal, gave "eye opening" testimony to a papally mandated investigator and hoped it would lead to the truth. Cruz met in a church on Manhattan's Upper West Side for about four hours with Scicluna, one of the most experienced and respected Vatican investigators of clergy sexual abuse.
"It's been a good experience and I leave here very hopeful today," he told reporters afterwards. "I feel that I was heard ... it was very intense and very detailed and very, sometimes, eye-opening for them."
"Hopefully it will lead to good things," he said.
Employee at Catholic School for Disabled Children in Pope's Former Diocese Convicted of Child Sex Abuse
BY MEGAN FOX
Jorge Bordón, an employee of the Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf in Argentina, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the horrific sex abuse scandal at the Catholic school for disabled children, according to Italian media source Mendoza Post. "Bordón, arrested since the beginning of the case, agreed to an abbreviated trial where he admitted to being guilty and the Justice condemned him on Tuesday for 'sexual abuse and corruption of minors,'" according to the report.
Bordon was arrested and tried for crimes ABC reported as "shocking."
The clerical sex abuse scandal unfolding at the Antonio Provolo Institute for hearing impaired children in Mendoza province would be shocking enough on its own. Except that dozens of students in the Provolo Institute’s school in Italy were similarly abused for decades, some of whom allegedly by the same priest who now stands formally charged of raping and molesting young deaf Argentines.
Corradi could be a big problem for the Pope
And the Vatican knew about the Rev. Nicola Corradi since at least 2009, when the Italian Provolo students went public with tales of shocking abuse against the most vulnerable of children and named names. While the Vatican ordered an investigation and sanctioned four accused priests, Corradi apparently never was sanctioned for his alleged crimes in Italy.
Corradi was also arrested and is awaiting trial. Another priest, Don Piccoli, who confessed on camera to raping and molesting boys at the Provolo school, has not been charged and is a guest at a Vatican facility in Negrar near Verona. Last month the school was raided by Argentine police and a nun, Kosaka Kumiko, was also arrested in connection with the abuse that occurred. According to witness statements, the nuns of Gresner, an adjacent abbey, accompanied the children to confession where the brutal rapes occurred.
Francis ignores Survivors, even as Bishop
The Provolo Institute is in Pope Francis's former diocese and the abuse occurred while he was the bishop. Survivors tried to meet with him about the abuse when he was the bishop and then again multiple times when he became pope. Their pleas were ignored, including a letter informing him that Nicola Corradi was still abusing children in 2014. They received only a short reply that it would be turned over to internal Vatican investigators. Corradi was not removed from the school until he was led out in handcuffs by police in 2016 as a result of victims coming forward to authorities.
But at least 24 students of the Provolo institute in Argentina have now come forward seeking justice for the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of Corradi, 82, another priest, the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, 55, and three other men. The five were arrested in late November by police who raided the school in Argentina’s Mendoza province and found magazines featuring naked women and about $34,000 in Corradi’s room.
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