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	CAS Worker Denies Allegations By Trevor Pritchard Standard-Freeholder October 30, 2008 http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1272313 A local Children's Aid Society worker denied she ever told David Silmser the agency wasn't interested in hearing his allegations of sexual abuse. Carole Leblanc told the Cornwall Public Inquiry that during the four months she spent as an intake worker in 1991 and 1992, she couldn't recall anyone with Silmser's name coming to the agency, nor could she remember anyone alleging abuse at the hands of a priest. Silmser, a former altar boy, went to the Cornwall Police Service in December 1992 alleging that Rev. Charles MacDonald had sexually abused him in the 1960s and 1970s. Leblanc's brief testimony yesterday morning contradicted evidence one of her colleagues, Geraldine Fitzpatrick, had given earlier this month. Fitzpatrick testified that the CPS officer who investigated Silmser's case, Heidi Sebalj, revealed Silmser had first spoken with Leblanc at the CAS. Leblanc later confirmed that meeting during an informal chat a year ago, Fitzpatrick said. On Wednesday, Leblanc said Fitzpatrick's story simply wasn't true. "I never had a conversation with Ms. Fitzpatrick about taking an intake from David Silmser," she said. While MacDonald was charged in 1996 by the Ontario Provincial Police, the charges were stayed six years later. The priest has always maintained his innocence.
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