Federal officials are looking into allegations of sex abuse of juveniles by New Orleans-area Catholic clergy that date back decades, on the basis that the accused men may have violated a federal anti-sex trafficking law by crossing state boundaries. The probe might give victims of abuse another way to confront their perpetrators and possibly lead to the filing of sex abuse lawsuits against Catholic dioceses and other institutions.
The Mann Act, which forbids bringing somebody across state borders for unlawful intercourse, is one of the offences the FBI is looking into to see if accused priests can be charged with. The Mann Act has no statute of limitations, despite the fact that some criminal accusations might be older than the 1970s. The investigation is supported by the Louisiana State Police.
Federal prosecutors utilised the Mann Act to help convict music icon R. Kelly and Ghislaine Maxwell, a key player in the Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse network. A Baptist preacher was given a 12-year prison term in 2013 for illegally transporting a 16-year-old girl over state boundaries.
This year, according to the Associated Press, federal authorities have reportedly spoken with more than a dozen suspected victims. A New Orleans-based priest is accused of abusing some of the children while taking them to Mississippi camps or Texas and Florida theme parks.
According to a former altar boy, his abuse started in the 1970s when his accuser is said to have taken him to Florida and Colorado for sexual abuse.
In the investigation, there are additional claims made against Lawrence Hecker, a 90-year-old former priest from New Orleans. After allegations of abuse ranging from fondling to rape, Hecker was dismissed from his position as a minister in 2002. He is accused of abusing kids in the past while travelling out of state. 2018 saw his release from the clerical state.
In a court petition, Richard Trahant, an attorney representing Hecker’s alleged victims, said that the papers covered by the confidentiality order would show that the previous four archbishops of New Orleans were aware of Hecker’s history of child sex abuse.
However, according to the archdiocese list, the initial complaint against Hecker was made to them in 1996. Attorneys have asserted that Archbishop Philip Hannan knew about Hecker’s abuse, but Hannan departed his position in 1988, according to a 2020 story from NOLA.com.
The federal investigation may open the door for additional discoveries and legal action against the New Orleans archdiocese.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans declared its intention to declare bankruptcy in May 2020. Survivors would lose their right to launch a lawsuit in state courts if they filed claims against the archdiocese by the deadline of March 1, 2021, in bankruptcy courts. A significant driving force behind the bankruptcy effort was the approximately 400 sex abuse allegations the archdiocese was facing in bankruptcy court.
Victims could still sue their alleged abusers who operated in religious orders or lay ministries, the New Orleans Advocate reported.
Bankruptcy proceedings have sealed Church documents that were produced by lawsuits with a confidentiality order. Critics say the records document years of abuse claims, interviews with clergy accused of abuse, and a pattern of Church leaders reassigning accused clergy without reporting their alleged crimes to law enforcement.
The archdiocese in 2018 published a list naming 57 “credibly accused” clergy. Six more names were later added to the list. An Associated Press analysis faulted the initial list, arguing that it undercounted by at least 20.
Peter G. Strasser, a former U.S. attorney in New Orleans, declined to bring charges. He told the Associated Press he had “naively” thought federal charges could be possible but faced many obstacles, including the complexities of “putting the church on trial” for conspiracy and other charges.
“The issue has always been determining what is the federal crime,” he said.
The scope of clerical sex abuse came to light in 2002, sparking tremendous controversy and suffering as well as initiatives to improve victim assistance, child protection initiatives, abuse reporting procedures, and disciplinary action against abusive clergy and their superiors.
Less than 24 fresh complaints of recent priest abuse were reported in the yearly report by the U.S. bishops on Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, published in November 2021.
However, throughout the report’s one-year coverage period, more than 4,200 fresh complaints of historical abuse were made.
Statistics on reported abuse events continue to demonstrate that the 1970s saw a high in the number of alleged clergy abuse incidents. The Catholic Church in the United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on legal fees related to past abuse.
The Louisiana legislature passed a bill in 2021 giving survivors of child sex abuse a three-year “lookback” window to file lawsuits against their alleged abuser, even if the statute of limitations would typically bar such cases.
At the time, child sex abuse cases had to be filed by the victim’s 28th birthday.
In the wake of the 2018 report, the archdiocese informed CNA in October 2020 that it had been attempting to have priests who had been removed from ministry due to allegations of child sex abuse dismissed from the clerical state. Dioceses are required by canon law to meet the needs of priests who have been removed from ministry, including housing and medical care. Priests who have been expelled from the clerical state are not required to have their needs met by them.