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NO MEANS NO!

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 02:33:47 +0100

STOP ABUSE!

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 02:32:58 +0100

Over 400 sex abuse suits filed as litigation window opens

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 02:30:53 +0100

LBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The Roman Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, schools and hospitals, the late financier Jeffrey Epstein are some of the targets named in a flurry of sex abuse lawsuits filed Wednesday in New York as the state began accepting cases once blocked by the statute of limitations.

Hundreds of lawsuits were filed as plaintiffs rushed to take advantage of the one-year litigation window, created by state lawmakers this year to give people who say they were victims a second chance to sue over abuse that, in many cases, happened decades ago.

Those suing Wednesday include a woman who says she was raped by Epstein as a teenager in 2002. She filed against Epstein’s estate and three of his associates. Similar lawsuits from other women who say they were abused by Epstein are expected.

Other suits filed Wednesday include one from 45 former Rockefeller University Hospital patients who say a renowned endocrinologist molested hundreds of boys over more than three decades.

Hundreds of others sued the Catholic Church or one of its several New York dioceses. Among them is Peter Vajda, who said a religious brother molested him when he attended a Catholic boarding school in the Bronx in the early 1950s.

“Now it’s their turn. Now it’s their time,” said Vajda, now 75 and a Georgia resident. “And I want them to get everything they deserve in the way of punishment.”

Another suit filed Wednesday accused former Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard, who retired in 2014, of sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy in the 1990s.

In yet another complaint, a man who has accused ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of molesting him in the 1960s and 70s in New York and New Jersey says the church failed to stop the abuse.

McCarrick, the former archbishop of Newark and Washington, D.C., was defrocked by Pope Francis in February after a church investigation determined he sexually abused minors as well as adult seminarians. McCarrick’s misconduct was reported to some U.S. and Vatican higher-ups, but he nevertheless remained an influential cardinal until his downfall last year.

Now 89, McCarrick has denied the allegations made by James Grein, the son of close family friends McCarrick baptized. Grein has told Vatican investigators that McCarrick began abusing him at age 11, sometimes during confession.

In all, 427 sex abuse lawsuits were filed by 5 p.m. Wednesday across New York. Some of the cases have one plaintiff, while others include several dozen.

The state’s statute of limitations had been among the nation’s most restrictive before state lawmakers extended it earlier this year for new cases. The Child Victims Act gives victims until age 55 to file lawsuits and until age 28 to seek criminal charges, compared with 23 under the old statute.

That law, which passed following more than a decade of debate in Albany, also created the litigation window.

“This is a momentous time for courageous survivors who have waited so long for justice in New York,” said Jeff Anderson, an attorney whose firm, New York-based Jeff Anderson & Associates, filed molestation lawsuits Wednesday on behalf of hundreds of clients.

Institutions that have long cared for children — such as the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts, as well as private and public schools and hospitals — are girding for what could be a devastating financial blow. A similar law passed in 2002 in California resulted in Catholic dioceses there paying $1.2 billion in legal settlements.

A compensation fund for sexual abuse victims set up by the New York Archdiocese in 2016 has paid out $65 million to 323 people, the archdiocese says. Those victims have waived their right to file lawsuits. The archdiocese is also suing more than two dozen insurance companies in an effort to compel them to cover abuse claims, anticipating that insurers won’t pay the claims filed during the litigation window.

New laws open door to decades-old child sex abuse cases

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 02:28:58 +0100

Child Victims Act laws in some U.S. states allow people who suffered sexual abuse as children to file lawsuits in cases going back decades.
Institutions facing such claims are usually willing to settle, lawyers say, and sometimes offer payouts of up to $1 million per plaintiff.
Recent publicity around child sexual abuse, including high-profile allegations against financier Jeffrey Epstein and singer R. Kelly, are spurring more such lawsuits.

When sex abuse victim Jim Keenan filed his first lawsuit 13 years ago, he thought his was "a lone case." But after settling with the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2018, he became the leader of a small army as chairman of a group of 440 sexual abuse victims within that diocese. It paid him, along with other former children who had been molested by clergy, a total of $210 million.

Yet that settlement may pale in size compared to potential payouts in New York, New Jersey and 15 other states around the country that have passed, or are considering, what are called Child Victims Acts (CVAs). These laws allow adults like Keenan, now 52, to sue churches, the Boy Scouts and other organizations that may have ignored, or covered up, cases of sexual abuse. The rationale for CVAs: Children may not be aware of what constitutes sexual abuse, or even that they were molested, and they deserve legal recourse as adults.

A recent report by insurance rating agency A.M. Best equates child sexual abuse claims to asbestos liability, because these claims can be attached to decades-old insurance policies that make the payments hard to predict. Asbestos settlements, which have already topped $70 billion, are still rising.

Meanwhile, most churches and other groups didn't purchase insurance to cover them against sex abuse cases until the 1990s, so much of the financial liability could ultimately fall on these organizations themselves. Although plaintiffs who file suits under a CVA law were children when they were abused, their numbers will now likely total in the thousands, and range up to age 75, lawyers said.

"The economic burden will fall not on the perpetrator, but on the institution," said Ed Hancock, chief underwriting officer for Church Mutual, a 120-year-old insurer that covers all religious denominations.

The result, which is already having an effect in states such as Minnesota, is that more church dioceses are going bankrupt -- a trend that could spread across the country as recognition of the problem, and the legal costs, continue to grow.

In another major case that illustrates the potential fallout, the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday said the organization is "exploring all options so we can live up to our social and moral responsibility to fairly compensate victims who suffered abuse" during their time in the group, hinting at a potential bankruptcy filing.

That followed allegations by a law firm claiming to disclose the names of more than 300 people it says committed child sex abuse acts while in the Boy Scouts. The group also said it had made 120 reports of potential abuse to law enforcement agencies around the country based on the law firm's allegations.

States open door to lawsuits

In many ways, Keenan's case is typical. As a 13-year-old he was abused by a priest, but didn't come forward until age 38. Although Keenan, a resident of Savage, Minnesota, sued to force the church to make changes that would protect children, the church fought back. The case was ultimately thrown out by the Minnesota Supreme Court because it was long past the statute of limitations, which usually lasts five years in most states.

But in 2002, California passed the first CVA law in the U.S., opening a one-year "window" for older victims to file a lawsuit. During that period, churches and insurers paid nearly $1 billion in settlements, according to lawyers familiar with these cases. California is now considering passing another CVA to let more abuse victims seek compensation. Other states followed. In 2013, Minnesota passed a CVA with a three-year window, and Keenan refiled his suit. Cases filed during that window are still winding their way through the courts.

Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson, who represented Keenan, has since moved part of his practice to New York state, where a CVA goes into effect this month -- the law will give victims up to age 55 a year to file suit. A similar CVA window will open in New Jersey in December.

"Institutions usually settle"

For plaintiffs, the prospects of winning a CVA settlement are good, experts said. "There's not a lot of downside risk in these cases," said Church Mutual's Hancock. "Institutions usually settle."

In part, that's because the absence of physical evidence is less important than a victim's testimony. Meanwhile, recent publicity around high-profile sex abuse cases -- including allegations against financier Jeffrey Epstein and R&B singer R. Kelly -- has caused juries to be more than willing to believe an alleged victim, even if the crime took place decades ago.

"Thanks to Jeffrey Epstein and cases like his, people know more about the gravity of criminal misconduct against a child and what they can do about it," said Anderson, who has handled these types of cases for three decades. "No more pedophile protection."

Epstein, who was arrested in New York in early July and charged with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy, allegedly abused dozens of underage girls as young as 14 over a number of years. He denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty. Kelly pleaded not guilty last week in a New York City court to charges he sexually abused women and girls.

Most abusers seldom face either criminal or civil penalties. They're usually elderly, often disabled or even dead, and have no money for victims to collect. But the churches and institutions that employed them can face charges ranging from fraud and conspiracy to concealment of a crime, as well as negligent hiring, retention and supervision, said Richard Serbin, an attorney with Janet, Janet & Suggs who has handled such cases for 32 years.

Attorneys representing alleged victims look for records that a church or organization has retained that detail any accusations, as well as the recurring transfer of alleged molesters. "Once you show the institution had knowledge, they share responsibility," Anderson said.

Some institutions are cooperating with these investigations. The New York Archdiocese has posted the names of 120 clergy "credibly accused" of sexually abusing a minor on its website. Those clergy, and others who've been named across the country, may have worked at multiple churches, creating claims in all of them.

It wasn't always so. Lawyers and insurers say that, in the past, churches and other organizations relied on time and the statute of limitations to protect them. Now, these lawsuits are likely to multiply as more states enact CVAs and more victims like Keenan file suit.

About 65,000 cases of child sex abuse are reported annually, according to the American Society for the Positive Care of Children, a national non-profit that compiles child abuse statistics.

Lack of insurance

Institutions didn't have sexual abuse insurance to cover claims going back to the 1960s. Although they began purchasing it just prior to the turn of this century, they may not have purchased enough. Small churches paid just $150 more for this coverage, but only got about $300,000 of protection, Hancock said. This could be exhausted by just one large claim. The price of this insurance is likely to go up as the number of plaintiffs expand, he predicted.

Even before New York State passed its CVA in 2016, the New York Archdiocese, the second-largest in the country, had set up a compensation fund that paid out a total of $65 million to 323 victims who waived their right to sue -- on average about $200,000 per person.

Now this Archdiocese is itself suing two dozen insurance companies, including a subsidiary of Chubb, claiming they're refusing to pay for abuse settlements likely to result from the state's new CVA. Chubb, the seventh-largest property-casualty company in the nation, declined to comment.

Another organization that is suing its insurers is the Rockefeller University in New York City. In a lawsuit filed this week, the school said it had received "hundreds of claims" of sexual abuse stemming from one doctor who had worked in child development for its Institute for Medical Research from the 1940s to the 1980s, and it expects additional claims. Rockefeller University accuses the insurers of refusing to settle those claims.

Unless insurers are willing to step up and absorb the losses, which could run into the billions, many churches may have to close. "No religious or charitable institution can magically create a pot of gold," Hancock said. "It doesn't exist."

Dad sentenced to 3 to 9 years for suffocating son with blankets

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 21:57:44 +0100

A Bronx father was sentenced Tuesday to three to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to suffocating his 8-month-old son with blankets.

Last month, Claude Tinnin, 21, took a plea deal and copped to one count of second-degree manslaughter in Manhattan Supreme Court for the tragic death of little August Tinnin inside the Rutgers Houses on the Lower East Side.

On March 22, 2018, Tinnin smoked marijuana then wrapped his infant son in numerous blankets and sheets, covering his face and mouth, and placed him on his stomach for a nap. Tinnin didn’t check on him.

His girlfriend returned home and found August in his crib, looking pale and blue. The baby was rushed to the hospital, where he died of cardiac arrest.

Antoinette Fleming, the boy’s mother, had an order of protection against Tinnin at the time, stemming from an altercation when he allegedly smacked her. In addition to Flemming, Tinnin was barred from contact with August and the couple’s other child.

Signs of abuse

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 21:53:48 +0100

A child who's being abused may feel guilty, ashamed or confused. He or she may be afraid to tell anyone about the abuse, especially if the abuser is a parent, other relative or family friend. That's why it's vital to watch for red flags, such as:

Withdrawal from friends or usual activities
Changes in behavior — such as aggression, anger, hostility or hyperactivity — or changes in school performance
Depression, anxiety or unusual fears, or a sudden loss of self-confidence
An apparent lack of supervision
Frequent absences from school
Reluctance to leave school activities, as if he or she doesn't want to go home
Attempts at running away
Rebellious or defiant behavior
Sexual abuse signs and symptoms
- Sexual behavior or knowledge that's inappropriate for the child's age
- Pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection
- Blood in the child's underwear
- Statements that he or she was sexually abused
- Inappropriate sexual contact with other children
Emotional abuse signs and symptoms
- Delayed or inappropriate emotional development
- Loss of self-confidence or self-esteem
- Social withdrawal or a loss of interest or enthusiasm
- Depression
- Avoidance of certain situations, such as refusing to go to school or ride the bus
- Desperately seeks affection
- A decrease in school performance or loss of interest in school
- Neglect signs and symptoms
  - Poor growth or weight gain or being overweight
  - Poor hygiene
  - Lack of clothing or supplies to meet physical needs
  - Taking food or money without permission
  - Hiding food for later
  - Poor record of school attendance
  - Lack of appropriate attention for medical, dental or psychological problems or lack of necessary follow-up care
  Loss of previously acquired developmental skills
Self-harm or attempts at suicide

Stepdad of Missing Texas Girl Arrested in Connection With Her Disappearance

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 21:50:19 +0100

The stepdad of missing Texas 4-year-old Maleah Davis has been arrested in connection with her disappearance.

Darion Vence, 26, was taken into custody on Saturday by the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force at a relative's home in Sugar Land. He was charged with tampering with evidence, Houston Police said in a statement Saturday.

Police said Vence reported that on May 4 he was driving on Highway 59 with Maleah in the car. He told police he heard a sound that made him think he had a flat tire, so he pulled over. Vence claimed Maleah was taken from three men in a blue pickup truck.

Vence told police he was knocked unconscious during the incident and didn't wake up for 24 hours. He claimed he then walked to Methodist Sugar Land Hospital and reported Maleah missing, police said.

As police continued investigating the case, they uncovered evidence contradicting Vence's story. Police said he claimed his car was taken in the incident, but surveillance video showed someone in that car dropping off Vence at the hospital.

Police also said officers found blood evidence linked to Maleah in Vence's apartment and that he was seen carrying a full laundry basket from the home.

On Thursday, Vence's car was found in Missouri City with the laundry basket and a gas can in the trunk.

Vence's bail is set at $999,999, CNN reported, and he is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Maleah's father, Craig Davis, had said he spoke directly to Vence in hopes of finding answers.

“I'm not putting the blame on anybody," Davis said. "I just need the questions that aren't answered to be answered. There are so many unanswered questions. It's not for the public to answer to them for me. It's not for the police to answer them for me. It's not for the news to answer them for me. It's for Darion to answer for me."

Before Vence was arrested, a court order issued during an emergency hearingreportedly sent Maleah’s younger half-brother to live with his paternal grandmother and her older brother to his paternal aunt.

The order also prevented Vence and Maleah's mother, Brittany Bowens, from having contact with any of their children. The order was reportedly the result of separate motions by Bowens’ own mother, Brenda Bowens, and the Department of Family and Protective Services.

Maleah has black hair, brown eyes, is 3 feet tall, and weighs between 30 and 40 pounds. She was last seen wearing a light blue Under Armour jacket, blue jeans and gray Under Armour tennis shoes with pink and white details. She has undergone multiple brain surgeries, including one in late March, and is in need of medical care, police said.

Anyone who may have seen Vence or Maleah is asked to contact Houston Police at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers Houston at 713-222-TIPS.

MALEAH

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 21:58:56 +0100

Maleah Was Previously Removed From Home After Abuse Allegations

Among concerns raised early by Maleah’s disappearance were that she was recovering from recent brain surgery, according to police.

Police did not identify the reason for the surgery. But speaking alongside Maleah’s mom at a news conference on Friday, Bowen’s spokesman and neighborhood activist Quanell X alleged that Vence had a history of spanking and beating the child, with Bowens as a witness, reports Fox26.

“He confronted her and threatened her, that ‘She better not do it.’ So she helped him shield the truth of that abuse of Maleah from doctors,” Quanell told reporters.

Maleah and her two brothers earlier were removed from the girl’s home after allegations of abuse, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services told CNN. In February they were returned, but a judge called for child protective services to check on the family at least once a month.

In an interview with CNN, Bowens denied abusing Maleah, saying, “We’re not those kinds of people.”

Quanell X also said Bowens recently had broken off her engagement with Vence, after allegedly discovering that Vence had sent sexually explicit images of himself to another man.

“She told him that she was giving back his ring, and that she was not going to marry him,” Quanell said at the press conference, where Bowens deferred questions to him. “I believe that caused him to snap in anger against young Maleah.”

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It’s unknown when Maleah may have disappeared or been killed. The probable cause affidavit says that while Bowens was away in Massachusetts to attend her father’s funeral, Maleah’s biological father stopped by the apartment to pick up his 5-year-old son, who along with the girl had been left in Vence’s care while the mother was away, according to the Chronicle.

Vence refused to let the other man, Craig Davis, see the girl, the affidavit states.

The blood evidence tied to Maleah was found in a bathroom of the apartment and a hallway that leads to it, according to the document. Police said that chemical spraying revealed locations in the apartment where blood had allegedly been cleaned up.

When asked, Vence told investigators “there should be no blood in the home and that no one was recently bleeding,” according to the document.

The surveillance video at the apartment complex allegedly “captures the stepdad coming out of the apartment with a bottle of Clorox, a laundry basket and inside the laundry basket a garbage bag,” Quanell said. “When he spoke to the mother, he told her he was cleaning up the apartment. And she didn’t understand why he would be cleaning up the apartment, but he went and bought an extra bottle of Clorox and came back.”

Vence currently is jailed on a $1 million bond. An attorney who might speak on his behalf was not immediately identified.

Maleah Davis

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 21:59:53 +0100

Traces of blood found in the apartment home of a missing Texas 4-year-oldhave led to a criminal charge against the girl’s stepdad for tampering with evidence of a human corpse, PEOPLE confirms.

Police won’t say if they believe the girl, Maleah Davis, is dead as they continue to search for her. But the charges filed Saturday against 26-year-old Derion Vence come amid his allegedly shifting accounts claiming he’d been knocked unconscious in a carjacking and that she had been abductedby three Hispanic men.

Police on Thursday recovered the silver Nissan Altima that Vence claimed had been stolen from him, and dogs trained to find cadavers responded “to the scent of human decomposition in the vehicle,” Harris County prosecutor Pat Stayton said at a court hearing Saturday, reports USA Today.

Also, security footage from a neighboring apartment allegedly shows Vence carrying multiple bottles of bleach in and out of the residence he shared with Davis and the girl’s mother, and then toting a full blue laundry basket containing a garbage bag, according to a spokesperson for Maleah’s mom, Brittany Bowens, reports Fox26 Houston.

Police say they recovered the laundry basket in the trunk of the Nissan, along with a gas can.

Vence had told police that he, Maleah, and his 2-year-old son were riding in the Nissan to a Houston airport about 6 p.m. May 3 to meet Maleah’s mom when he heard “a popping noise, like he has a flat tire,” Houston police Sgt. Mark Holbrook earlier told reporters.

When he pulled over to check, Vence told police a blue pickup pulled off behind him and two Hispanic men got out. As they approached, “one of them makes a comment saying that Maleah looks very nice, looks very sweet,” Holbrook said, quoting Vence’s claims to police.

Catholic Church in Texas Names Nearly 300 Priests Accused of Sex Abuse

Sat, 02 Feb 2019 19:39:01 +0100

THE NEW YORK TIMES

The Roman Catholic Church in Texas on Thursday released the names of almost 300 priests who it said had been credibly accused of child sex abuse over nearly eight decades.

There are an estimated 8.5 million Catholics in Texas, according to the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, making it one of the most heavily Catholic states in the country. The church there has been in a state of crisis since dozens of local and federal agents raided the offices of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in November as part of an investigation into a sexual abuse case.

Mr. Petersen also said he thought it was probable that there were more than 300 priests who had committed sexual abuse in Texas since 1950. He pointed to a report in December by the Illinois attorney general that said the Catholic Church there had withheld the names of at least 500 priestsaccused of sexually abusing minors.

By Liam Stack

Jan. 31, 2019