Pennsylvania diocese may face racketeering suit for covering up abuse

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Pennsylvania diocese may face racketeering suit for covering up abuse

Associated Press in Pittsburgh
Sunday 3 April 2016 17.01 BST

A federal prosecutor may file a racketeering lawsuit against a Roman Catholic diocese where a state grand jury found two former bishops helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by more than 50 clergy over a 40-year period.

The ongoing investigation of the Altoona-Johnstown diocese in Pennsylvania grew out of the prosecution of the Reverend Joseph Maurizio Jr, 71, US attorney David Hickton said on Friday.

The Somerset county priest was convicted last year of molesting two street children during missionary trips to Honduras. He was sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison, fined $50,000 and forced to pay his victims $10,000 each.

Hickton said the investigation concerns whether diocesan officials engaged in a pattern of criminal activity that would fall under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as Rico.

The statute of limitations has lapsed on criminal racketeering charges, but there is no time limit for filing a Rico lawsuit, Hickton said. KDKA-TV first reported that Hickton was considering such a lawsuit. A diocesan spokesman didn’t immediately comment.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/03/pennsylvania-diocese-racketeering-lawsuit-sexual-abuse-clergy

[Orrex]

1. It's a sad day when priests can't rape hundreds of children with impunity.

What do you suppose would happen to any other organization in the country that enabled, facilitated, and covered up this industry of predatory pedophilia?

[edhopper]

2. It's about time

the whole Roman Catholic Church should be looked at as a criminal organization. RICO should apply.

"The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them in doing, closing a perceived loophole that allowed a person who instructed someone else to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because he did not actually commit the crime personally."