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Cardinal Mahony under federal fraud investigation over abusive priests, sources say
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Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, talks with a police officer outside St. Joseph Church after a service in this April 2008 file photo.
The U.S. attorney in L.A. reportedly launched a grand jury probe to determine if the prelate failed to adequately deal with such priests. An attorney for the archdiocese says he's been told Mahony is not the target of the inquiry.
The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles has launched a federal grand jury investigation into Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in connection with his response to the alleged molestation of children by priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the case.
The probe, in which U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien is personally involved, is aimed at determining whether Mahony, and possibly other church leaders, committed "honest services fraud" by failing to adequately deal with priests accused of sexually abusing children, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
One federal law enforcement source said such a prosecution could be brought under a federal statute that makes it illegal to "scheme . . . to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services."
In this case, the victims would be parishioners who relied on Mahony and other church leaders to keep their children safe from predatory priests, the source said. To convict on such a charge, prosecutors would have to prove that Mahony used the U.S. mail or some form of electronic communication in committing the alleged fraud, the source said.
O'Brien declined to comment, refusing to even confirm the existence of the investigation.
J. Michael Hennigan, an attorney for the archdiocese, confirmed that federal prosecutors have contacted the archdiocese and requested "information about a number of individual priests, at least two of whom are deceased." He said he was also aware that some witnesses had testified before the panel.
But Hennigan said he has been informed that Mahony is not a target of the inquiry.
"We have been and will continue to be fully cooperative with the investigation," Hennigan said.
As the Catholic Church's highest-ranking official in Southern California, Mahony was dogged for years by allegations of covering up the sexual misconduct of priests. The district attorney's office launched a grand jury investigation into the archdiocese several years ago, but no charges were filed. Two years ago, the archdiocese agreed to pay $660 million to 508 people who accused priests of sexual abuse. The payout was the largest settlement in a scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church nationwide.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said he had not heard about the investigation but welcomed the new scrutiny of Mahony.
"It is long, long overdue," Clohessy said. "It is just crucial that the hierarchy face criminal charges, because almost every other conceivable means have been tried to bring reform."
Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor and former federal prosecutor, said the theory that prosecutors are pursuing is one usually reserved for cases against corporate executives accused of wrongdoing.
In Mahony's case, she said, prosecutors would have the difficult task of defining the "honest services" expected from a Catholic cardinal. Then they would have to convince jurors that criminal charges were not a stretch.
Levenson compared the prosecution strategy of using a novel interpretation of an existing law to the one employed in the recent case against a Missouri woman accused of using MySpace to bully a 13-year-old who later committed suicide. Jurors in that case acquitted the woman of the most serious charges.
"I'd put it in the category of creative lawyering," Levenson said. "It doesn't mean it's bad. But it will be challenging to not only get charges on these grounds but, if they get charges, to win a conviction."
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[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]roman catholic diocese involved in a plot to make sure guy templeton black isn't elected to the tremont west development board
i have been told that roman catholic diocese is one of the actors involved in a plot to make sure i'm not elected to the tremont west development corporations board of trustees because i have gone public in the past about me and my brother being abused at parmadale childrens home about 1950, owned by the cleveland diocese and the cuyahoga county prosecutor has this on file and the first page of my bio as a canidate for the board of twdc states this - and demanding that the status limitations go back as far as there are victims - read no. 10, of the below bio - also read the below letter from the cleveland diocese thats states in part my records from parmadale " is now unable to be located" after i received some records in 1994, the same records "is now unable to be located" guy and yogi
also read below for latest harressment
have gay folks taken over tremont? meeting
well i guess i'm not gay enough - although i'm straight - david mehring sounded like he was fighting with his lover when he told me to shut up or i make you leave - he said he didn't want to hear any of my comments that angel cuevas, of angels auto repair and towing has been harassed by tremont west for years although angel works with law enforcement city state federal 2nd district and great hector cuevas is past commander of the 2nd district cleveland police and now the deputy chief of police and angels brothers are two of clevelands finast police and angel repairs folks cars and helps many folks and youth and i was telling david and about 40 others attending the 2nd annual safety retreat today at merrick house that you all should reach out to folks like me and angel that speaks truth to power and not attempt to punish or destroy us or harress us as franks house was demolished and i was banned from tremont leaders yahoo group and tremonter and ohio city yahoos group and other civil rights violations - POLITICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX -because some gay straight corrupt greedy pay to play racist etc. don't want to hear truth to power- and not one person spoke up to say let guy speak as i told david you can't make me shut up and i won't leave this public invited form as sammy catina was video taping us and so was i with my secret spy camera- so whats the moral of this story- don't be an agent provocator towards guy etc., - freedom of speech - gay people shoud not be biased towards straight people - don't harress good angel cuveas - don't make sure guy isn't elected to tremont west board as is the agenda that dave mehring showed -
" the slash and burn - take no prisoners - anything goes is so corrosive to our democracy and we've got to fight this because it turns people off politics in general and leaves that space to be occupied by special interests that determine how the goodies are to be passed out...." barack obama, nov. 23, 2004
tremont west development corporation board members should be randomly drug tested - because they make decisions with hundreds of thousands of dollars that should benifit the people - and attend public meetings-
tremont west development corporation board member david mehring, seem impaired when he wouldn't let me speak fully about an injustice and threaten to make me leave a public meeting - and yogi yoga bear my service k-9 partner, that also does biological, (drugs) explosive and search and resue - communicated to me that dave mehring was suspiously dangerous chemically imbalanced when he walked to us after the below stated incident-
SO JERLEEN SAYS IT AND THE SUN NEWS STORY-
ETERNAL THANKS, YOGI AND GUY
THE TALE OF TWO TREMONTS
Submitted by jerleen1 [13] on January 24, 2009 - 2:48pm.
The tale of two Tremonts continues - I received a call from Guy Templeton a bit ago - giving me a briefing on the Safety retreat at the Merrick House this morning and how he felt that not only was the meeting a wash but that Sammy was there with a video camera and that this time it was the story of TWO TOM CATS - WITH THEIR TAIL TIED TOGETHER - between Guy and Dave Mehring.
Now come on folks - Guy has lived in Tremont 65 years - he knows every street, alley and walkway like the back of his hand. He knows where all the old buildings used to be and what they looked like - he's been poor all his life - he has the documents, a lot of which are in his bio submitted to TWDC, to back up his works in the community. So, he's a bit colorful - he gets excited - he get's worked up - most people don't know that many years ago, while out on his "neighborhood watch" he and his dog Rusto saved a man's life in Thurman alley (the man had been shot and left) if I'm not mistaken there was a write up in the pd about it) - he isn't afraid to speak up for the poor - he's not afraid to get on the phone and dig up donations and get others to help.
I'm sad to see how a lot of people in this neighborhood treat an elderly gentleman just because he's different, or doesn't think the way everybody else does - you got to remember, he been there - all the new comers in this area will never be where Guy has been - or know the life Guy has known - where's your respect? As far as safety - if I was out there on the streets, and in trouble or my life was in jeopardy - I would only hope that Guy Templeton Black and Yogi Bear would be the two out there walking around.
Get it together, GUY IS A TRUE TREMONTER by all rights - if you don't like what he writes, don't read it - but give the man his dues -
You know that disability has no age limit, no gender, no color, doesn't care if your rich or poor - and drops in like a thief in the night - something all of us must consider.
ANTI-SPECIESISM
SPECIESISM:
1. A PREJUDICE OF ATTITUDE OF BIAS TOWARD THE INTERESTS OF MEMEBERS OF ONE'S OWN SPECIES
AND AGAINIST THOSE OF MEMBERS OF OTHER SPECIES.
2. A WORD USED TO DESCRIBE THE WIDESPREAD DISCRIMINATION THAT IS PRACTICED
BY HOMO SAPIENS AGANIST THE OTHER SPECIES.
SAVE OTHER-OUR SPECIES
SOS-FRE
FROM RESEARCH EXPERIMENT
QUEST, MINISTRIES, GUY TEMPELTON BLACK, PASTOR, and YOGI YOGA BEAR, SERVICE K-9 (guy's partner)
753 BRAYTON AVE., CLEVELAND, OHIO 44113-4604 USA, V:216.861.7368, F:216.861.7368
UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES VETERAN (VOLUNTEER) PEACE, ANTI-WAR, DEFENSIVE
faith based non-profit corporation no. 389646, 501(c)(3), SINCE 1965,
http://www.geocities.com/questministry [14]
ADVOCATING FOR A NATIONAL WAR DOGS MEMORIAL http://www.wardogsmemorial.org [15]
DONATE TO QUEST, VIA PAYPAL:
(CLICK) questministries [at] netzero [dot] net&return=http://www.geocities.com/questministry/questministries">http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=questministries%40netzero.net&return=http%3A//www.geocities.com/questministry/questministries
SPECIESISM:
1. A PREJUDICE OF ATTITUDE OF BIAS TOWARD THE INTERESTS OF MEMEBERS OF ONE'S OWN SPECIES
AND AGAINIST THOSE OF MEMBERS OF OTHER SPECIES.
2. A WORD USED TO DESCRIBE THE WIDESPREAD DISCRIMINATION THAT IS PRACTICED
BY HOMO SAPIENS AGANIST THE OTHER SPECIES.
SAVE OTHER-OUR SPECIES
SOS-FRE
FROM RESEARCH EXPERIMENT
QUEST, MINISTRIES, GUY TEMPELTON BLACK, PASTOR, and YOGI YOGA BEAR, SERVICE K-9 (guy's partner)
753 BRAYTON AVE., CLEVELAND, OHIO 44113-4604 USA, V:216.861.7368, F:216.861.7368
UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES VETERAN (VOLUNTEER) PEACE, ANTI-WAR, DEFENSIVE
faith based non-profit corporation no. 389646, 501(c)(3), SINCE 1965,
http://www.geocities.com/questministry [14]
ADVOCATING FOR A NATIONAL WAR DOGS MEMORIAL http://www.wardogsmemorial.org [15]
DONATE TO QUEST, VIA PAYPAL:
(CLICK) questministries [at] netzero [dot] net&return=http://www.geocities.com/questministry/questministries">http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=questministries%40netzero.net&return=http%3A//www.geocities.com/questministry/questministries
http://www.disclosureproject.com [16] TRUTH - EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL