[See also other articles by Gustavo Arellano.]


Yesterday, Orange County Register crime reporter Rachanee Srisavasdi interviewed the man who claims Orange diocese Bishop Tod D. Brown abused him decades ago . Scott Hicks of Fresno claims that he suppressed the thoughts of abuse for years and recalled them only after therapy recovered those memories. Recovered memories are always a minefield of allegations, as anyone who remembers the McMartin preschool trials remember, so Srisavasdi quoted UC Irvine's Elizabeth Loftus on the validity of recovered memories for some balance. No problem so far: Loftus is famous for disputing recovered memories and frequently serves as a witness for folks accused of sexual abuse. What Srisavasdi doesn't reveal is that Loftus has worked for the Catholic Church before to try and save its pedo-priests from the pokey, making her comments questioning Brown's accuser as unbiased as FOX News reporting on the Iraq War.

E-mail: GARELLANO@OCWEEKLY.COM