We’re seeing a host of emerging scandal cover ups in recent years that in some cases, suggest abuse of children. In Boston in 2015, a Catholic church official was charged in connection with a child sex abuse cover up. In Colorado earlier this month, a high-level city police officer was arrested on child abuse charges and yet still went back to work. This past November, a Calgary city councilor was arrested after allegedly intimidating young boys who had come forward as sexual abuse victims. A brief overview of several sexual abuse cover ups since 1995:
1990s – Boston
Carlton F. Kinney, accused Boston Globe of protecting abusers in a massive front page article exposing a decades long cover up in Boston. Other newspaper investigation uncovered a network of priests, laymen and nuns accused of child sex abuse. Dr. Berkley, one of Boston’s first new juvenile courts judge, accused of abusing youth while he was a child. Rowland, an assistant district attorney who assigned files to a priest accused of multiple sexual assaults of children. Carroll, described by public defenders as someone who “was strongly sympathetic to abuse complainants’ cause.” Troubled Boston police Sgt. Pat Montague charged with misconduct with a minor for taking nude photographs of children. Kenneth Clark, accused of sexually assaulting three boys in a St. Louis Jesuit boarding school. Former nun Elizabeth Rathbun pleaded guilty to one charge of abuse of a minor, possession of obscene matter with intent to distribute. Celia Guzman-Racaniello of a popular Dominican orphanage accused of sexual abuse. Some 50 accused of varying degrees of sexual abuse, years of abuse spanning decades. Many in the U.S. Catholic church helped cover up the abuse.
2006 – Fargo, North Dakota
North Dakota Governor John Hoeven appointed a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of sexual abuse against American Indian children at the Heart River Indian Community. Five tribal employees were indicted on charges of abuse against children. Law enforcement and tribal social services personnel ignored numerous complaints, including deaths involving abuse. The case caught the attention of congressional critics, calling for an independent review of the Indian child welfare system.
2009 – Baltimore
The Baltimore Child Abuse Response team, tasked with investigating accusations of sexual abuse of children, was disbanded over a year later after a judge harshly criticized the team.
2003 – Guam
Released from juvenile custody, two Catholic priests were told of a member of the clergy who was molesting children. But the alleged victim’s sister told the church, who then intimidated the siblings to keep quiet.
2004 – Calgary
Academic director at the Safe Inclusion Resource Centre, Dr. Frank Curtis, was arrested on allegations of sexual assault on a 13-year-old. Curtis told police he was only groping the girl’s buttocks. Police say he inappropriately touched at least two other teen girls as well.
2010 – Maryland
Robert McClain, of Bowie, Maryland, a former state social worker. Sexual assault charges were brought against him after the case was handed over to the FBI.
The Skilly Brothers – Karen Pahlstad and Gerald Pahlstad – couple based in Uppsala, Sweden, who taught college and high school classes on sexual assault, life styles, gender differences and predator behavior in the workplace. They developed cult-like ways to punish those they considered ‘damaged goods.’
The women even developed a society where “recovered-addict” pupils were treated by the Skilly Brothers in the luxury home they had built. One of the teachers even presided over the ceremony when the members chose a “lost soul”. Three foster children in Widdowson were abused.