Clergy sex victims challenges WV bishop

Catholic priest just arrested for molesting a boy in WV

Top church official should disclose when he heard accusation

Self help group prods victims and witnesses to 'speak up now'

It suspects others here may have 'seen or suffered' cleric's crimes

"Don't call church officials," SNAP pleads. "Call police & prosecutors instead"

What:
Holding signs and childhood pictures at sidewalk news conference, 1-2 clergy sex abuse victims will urge local Catholic officials to
-- publicly reveal when they first learned of allegations of abuse against a priest,
--explain why those allegations were kept secret for seven months, and
-- "aggressively reach out" to urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered the predator's crimes to contact law enforcement.

When:
Friday, Feb. 5th, 11:00 a. m.

Where:
Outside the Charleston Police Department (City Hall building), 501 Virginia St. East, Charleston, WV

Who:
One-two clergy sex abuse victims who belong to a self help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

Why:
On Tuesday, West Virginia news reported that Fr. Robert F. Poandl of Cincinnati, Ohio has been indicted for sexually abusing a 10 year old boy in 1991 at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church (304 927 2013) in Spencer, W.Va.

According to news reports, the victim reported his abuse in June 2009. SNAP contends that Catholic officials – including West Virginia’s Bishop Michael Bransfield - should have disclosed the allegations at that time, and urged anyone who saw, suspected or suffered his crimes to come forward and call police. By keeping quiet, Bransfield put more kids at risk of being abused, SNAP feels, and gave the accused priest more chances to intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and even flee the country.

SNAP believes Poandl probably has ties to WV, has come to area before, may have relatives or friends there, and could have abused other WV kids, and that there could be WV individuals with information about him who should call police.

The diocese has a website, newspaper, parish bulletins, parish websites and dozens of employees, all of which could (and should) be used to prompt others with information about Poandl to call police, SNAP says.

According to Internet sources, Poandl is originally from Metuchen NJ. He also worked in Oklahoma, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Kentucky and attended seminaries in Indiana and Mexico.

The Roane County grand jury indicted Poandl on Jan. 26.

Contact:
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511
Mike Lewis, SNAP Charleston Leader, 304-932-5913
David Clohessy, SNAP National Director, 314-566-9790
Dan Frondorf, SNAP Cincinnati Leader, 513-706-7403