MN--Victims: “Others with information on accused priest must come forward”
For immediate release: Monday, May 16, 2016
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, [email protected])
Our hearts ache for the four girls and their families who have helped police and prosecutors pursue an accused child molesting cleric, Fr. Brian Lederer. They must be terribly distraught that he’s been deemed “not guilty.”
We hope more who were victimized by Fr. Lederer come forward so that he might face more charges and eventually be kept away from kids.
Often, predatory preachers, ministers and rabbis get top notch defense lawyers and exploit legal technicalities and get off scot-free. The best remedy in these tragic cases is for others with information or suspicions about the offender to summon up some strength and call law enforcement. We hope that happens here.
No matter what lawmakers or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell,[email protected])
Minnesota priest found not guilty in sexual abuse case
By John Myers June 20, 2016
HIBBING — Catholic Priest Brian Lederer was found not guilty Monday of all six charges against him of inappropriately touching young girls.
A jury of six men and six women deliberated less than two hours before returning the verdict in State District Court after a four-day trial.
Lederer, 30, the former priest at Blessed Sacrament Parish and Assumption Catholic School in Hibbing, was charged in May, 2015 with four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and . . .
Showing 1 comment