Pittsburgh Deacon Sentenced, SNAP Urges Outreach
Rosendo F. “Ross” Dacal was sentenced today to two years of probation for two felony convictions related to sending sexually explicit material to an undercover police officer posing as a teenage boy. The clergyman pleaded guilty to the charges in October.
Deacon Dacal will not be jailed, so we worry that he may still pose a risk to others. As a result, we are begging anyone who may have been abused by the Deacon, or anyone who saw or suspected such abuse, to contact law enforcement. SNAP, or groups like us, are available to assist survivors, witnesses and whistle blowers as they come forward.
Deacon Dacal was arrested in 2018 on charges related to sending and soliciting obscene images from an undercover police officer he thought was a 14-year-old boy. Following his arrest, he was suspended from his assignments at All Saints Parish in Etna and the Allegheny County Jail. We also know the Deacon previously taught at Steubenville Catholic Central High in Ohio in the 1960s and '70s.
We urge Bishop David Zubik and Bishop Jeffrey Marc Monforton, as well as Deacon Dacal's other supervisors, to reach out to parishioners, former students and parents, and assure them that they should be reporting clergy sex crimes by the Deacon, or anyone else, to the police. That is, after all, is the right thing to do to make sure that those who abuse children are kept away from the innocent.
CONTACT: Zach Hiner, Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)