DSS Delay under Investigation Records Agency Waited to Act on Abuse Claim Vs Rev, by Michele McPhee, Boston Herald, May 16, 2007

DSS Delay under Investigation: Records: Agency Waited to Act on Abuse Claim Vs. Rev

By Michele McPhee
Boston Herald
May 16, 2007

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=1001489

The embattled Department of Social Services received several reports that a Roxbury minister molested a teenage boy in 2005 - including a phone call from the accused predator himself - but failed to follow up for 18 months until the boy became suicidal and was hospitalized, according to documents reviewed by the Herald.

The apparent foul-up, which led to a lengthy delay in investigating the abuse claims against the minister, prompted Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday to order an investigation into how the agency, headed by Commissioner Harry Spence, handles clergy abuse reports.

"We are investigating the DSS process and handling of this report and assessing the overall system for how we track all cases," said JudyAnn Bigby, secretary of Health and Human Services.

Through his spokeswoman, Denise Monteiro, Spence said the agency is also probing how it handled allegations that the Rev. Lawrence Brown molested a teen member of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church, where Brown works as a youth minister. The Herald reported yesterday that the Suffolk district attorney is investigating those claims.

P. Edward Harrison claims he was sexually molested by a minister from Mount Calvary Baptist Church.
Photo by David Goldman

The alleged victim, P. Edward Harrison, became suicidal and had to be hospitalized Oct. 31, 2006, for severe depression. That's some 18 months after DSS received the phone call from Brown and a 51-A child abuse report was sent from the Emmanuel Gospel Center, where Brown also worked with youths, according to documents and notes reviewed by the Herald.

"We have a young boy who has been hospitalized as a result of allegations of sexual misconduct. We need to get to the bottom of what happened with these reports," Monteiro said.

Yesterday, Monteiro acknowledged receiving some sort of correspondence about Brown on May 6, 2005, the day the South End gospel center faxed a 51-A report outlining the child abuse allegations, as required by law.

The Rev. Jeffrey Brown (no relation to Lawrence) of the Boston Ten-Point Coalition released a statement yesterday condemning the alleged abuse and the fact that certain officials at Mount Calvary Baptist did not report it.

"As anti-violence advocates, the Boston Ten-Point Coalition condemns the committing or cover-up of any act of violence, be it verbal, physical, or sexual," the statement reads. "It is important that churches address this issue with their congregants and ensure that the church is a place of safety and support."

Jeff Bass, executive director of the Emmanuel Gospel Center, produced a written statement yesterday purportedly signed by Lawrence Brown on May 5, 2005. According to the statement, Brown called the DSS Child-At-Risk Hotline to "report myself" for inappropriate conduct with Harrison, who is also his second cousin.

The center's notes indicate that on May 6, a staffer followed up Brown's phone call to DSS with the mandated 51-A form faxed to the agency's Hyde Park office. Four days later, the staffer sent another copy of the report, and noted that a DSS worker confirmed the Hyde Park office received the 51-A.

All of the correspondence is carefully noted in a file on Brown, who was fired from the center on May 6, 2005.

Contact: mmcphee@bostonherald.com