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	Advocates for Victims of Priest Abuse Target Giuliani Friend Associated Press, carried in International Herald Tribune June 22, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/22/america/NA-GEN-US-Giuliani-Church-Abuse.php Garden City, New York: Advocates for victims of priest sexual abuse called on U.S. Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Friday to fire a childhood friend and priest who was hired by Giuliani's security consulting business after being suspended from the clergy amid allegations he abused children. A spokeswoman for Giuliani said the firm had no plans to fire Msgr. Alan Placa. "There's ample evidence showing that Placa consistently protected predators, shrewdly deceived victims, and covered up horrific clergy sex crimes," said a statement from David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. SNAP also contends that Placa abused children. Placa, a childhood friend of Giuliani's, has defended himself for years over allegations in a 2003 grand jury report that detailed decades-old abuses by priests in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. None of the priests was ever prosecuted or even identified because statutes of limitations had expired long before the district attorney's investigation. Days after the release of the report, Placa acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times that he was implicated in the report, but he denied he had ever abused children. Placa was not available to comment Friday, said Giuliani Partners spokeswoman Sunny Mindel. She said Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, was standing by his childhood friend. "The former mayor believes that Alan Placa has been unjustly accused," Mindel said. Placa was suspended from his duties as a priest in June 2002 after abuse allegations surfaced. A lawyer, he currently works as a consultant for the ex-mayor's firm.
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