Priest Civil Sex Abuse Trial Begins - Victims Respond

The civil sex abuse trial of alleged Huntington Beach/Santa Barbara predator priests Gus Krumm and Alexander Manville begins Monday, September 19, 2011 in Orange County Superior Court, CX 105.

Every time a victim uses the tried-and-true civil justice system to expose their perpetrator and stop the cover-up of abuse, another child is safer from sexual exploitation. Gus Krumm is an admitted predator who - with the help of his Catholic supervisors - used his power as a priest to groom, molest and destroy children for more than a dozen years.  Although he is no longer a priest, he must still be held accountable for his crimes.  The Franciscan Friars of Santa Barbara knew that Krumm was an immediate threat to children, yet they did little or nothing to warn Huntington Beach parents of the danger or keep kids safe from abuse.  We hope that the trial will also expose the truth about Fr. Alexander Manville.

No amount of money can bring back a lost childhood, but the justice system is the best way to hold people accountable for the damage that they have done to children and their families.  The Franciscans have spent years maligning victims, keeping perpetrators in ministry, and refusing to publicly release documents that outline the scope and scale of sexual abuse and cover-up by their priests and employees.

We urge anyone with information about the crimes of Gus Krumm or any predator cleric to call law enforcement, not the church.  We also beg any victim of sexual abuse, no matter when the abuse occurred, to come forward, get help, and report the crime.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 23 years and have more than 10,000 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 Blaine (312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@ gmail.com), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])