Category Archive for : ‘PFML’

On February 11, Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law, a Long Island-based victims advocacy group, charged Bishop William Murphy covered up the priest sex abuse scandal in Boston and can’t be trusted to protect the children in the church’s care on Long Island.  She said Catholics should hold back donations to the diocese.  In the Murphy Files, there is evidence of deception through omission, evidence of outright fabrication and evidence of putting children in great danger, she said.  The diocese responded to Ahearn in a short statement:

Newsday/Andrew Smith

Richard Russillo, a 59 year old Ridge man, has been indicted on charges of sexually abusingneighborhood children during the past few years. Russillo, of 31 Tarkhill Trail, is accused ofsodomizing one boy who was younger than 13 years old between February and April 2003. Because ofthe boy’s age, he is charged with first-degree sodomy, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 yearsin prison. He was arrested in June 2003 and had been free on a bail bond of $180,000. He is alsoaccused of sexually abusing a girl four times

Lorraine Armet, a member of the civilian review board advising Bishop William Murphy on how to proceed against priests accused of sexually abusing minors, said that a top diocesan official told her to step down for speaking out in favor of settling the lawsuits brought by victims.  She said she had kept the confidentiality of those proceeding, however, she will not continue to participate because she said Murphy is trying to silence her for siding with victims.  Armet was spoke at a Parents For Megan’s Law news conference in Stony

Laura Ahearn, a leading children’s advocate tapped by Bishop William Murphy to help the Rockville Centre diocese clean up its sex abuse scandal, called the bishop’s effort phony and said she will no longer work with the diocese.  Ahearn called on Murphy to resign and lambasted him for failing to pay restitution to 45 alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests on Long Island while waving a sign that declared The CEO Must Go! and marching alongside 15 other protesters outside St. Agnes Cathedral yesterday.  Ahearn is the executive director

Governor Pataki want to include the photos, descriptions and victim patterns of up to 50 times more sex offenders on a state Web site so the public can more readily identify offenders in their neighborhoods.  Another proposal released by Pataki yesterday would provide for the arrest of convicted sex offenders if they fail to report their address to authorities each year, even if they don’t move.  He said the proposals would strengthen the ability of law-enforcement agencies to keep track of sex offenders and provide the information to the public

Anything less than the pursuit of adult criminal charges against the Mepham High School footballplayers charged with perpetrating brutal sexual assaults against three younger teammates would be atravesty of justice to the victims and would send a stark message nationwide.

While the recent priest abuse scandal has forced stunned parents to accept the painful truththat most sexual victimization happens between youth and those adults they trust, the facts of theMepham nightmare lend credence to the disturbing revelation that juvenile males commitapproximately 20 percent of all rapes and up to 50 percent