May 01, 2006

Victims of Priest Sex Abuse Scandal Were Selected

TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV

By Seamus McGraw

May 1, 2006

TOLEDO, Ohio (Crime Libarary) — They were particularly vulnerable children. Some by their own accounts were still pre-schoolers when the nightmare began. Some were older, though not much. All of them were targeted for the reasons that victims of child abuse are always selected.

In some cases, they came from broken homes. Others were from large and overwhelmed families looking for someone, a priest perhaps, who could offer guidance and support. Still others were the kids who had developed reputations for being disruptive, and would, therefore, be unlikely to be believed, even if they did come forward to report what had been done to them.

Years later, a handful of them did come forward and many of them told the same sordid tale of bizarre ritual abuse. Even now, the few details that have emerged are chilling and paint a portrait of almost unimaginable depravity. They spoke of being brought to a remote location, some remembered it as a farmhouse outside of Toledo, according to one source familiar with their allegations, and there, at the hands of priests, they said, they were subjected to what can only be described as real evil.

Posted by kshaw at May 1, 2006 04:36 PM