Family Responds to Diocese Clarification of Alleged Sexual Assault Claim

By Gabrielle Sarann
JRN
September 24, 2014

http://www.jrn.com/fox4now/news/Family-responds-to-Diocese-clarification--277015981.html

[with video]

On Tuesday, the Diocese of Venice said it never received a complaint from a family that a now-convicted sex offender had sexually assaulted their son three years ago. But today the Diocese is clarifying its statement. Now they're admitting the family did speak up but not in a formal report.

From the outside, St. Francis Xavier Church in Fort Myers looks like a place of peace. But for Isabelle and Sisto Romano, it's been anything but.

"Very hurtful, hurtful beyond words," said Isabelle, who was baptized at the church and just left a teaching job there of 16 years. "I gave them my all. My life was there. My family's life was there."

She says they immediately notified the church in 2011 that their son had been sexually assaulted by Robert Little. At the time, a Eucharistic minister. Now a convicted child molester in a separate case.

"This is my son, they're picking on a 14-year-old boy today that was 10 or 11-years-old back then," added Sisto.

Yesterday, the Diocese of Venice denied the Romano's claim saying it never received a complaint of an assault from them. But today, the church backpedaled. In a statement, it said the couple reported that their son "felt uncomfortable" in the presence of Little. But that although they were "... encouraged to make a formal report to the Diocese Victim Assistance Coordinator the couple declined to do so."

"I have no idea where they're getting that from," reacted Isabelle. "We were actually told by the priest in charge at St Francis to literally not tell the school, and both of us as parents said the school had to be told."

The Romanos say they were promised that a case had been opened at the Diocese and that Little would be kept away from children. But a week later, they say, he was back on church campus.

"[He was] back [at] the administration again," recalled Sisto. "What's he doing here?" he asked church officials. He says they told him, "He's only in the front office. I said he's not supposed to be anywhere near the school."

Their attorney says it's unbelievable the church's latest statement continues to avoid addressing the family's pain.

"They're almost still not acknowledging that this little boy went through whatever he went through," said Michael Noone. "That in itself is a harm."

And the Romanos worry others could still be harmed given how the church has handled this.

"To any other parent who's out there, i would be very careful if i attended the school."

And in that separate case involving Little, even after the abuse was reported to investigators and church administrators, he continued to live on church property. Little is serving just shy of a year in prison and the family of the boy molested in that case is now suing the Diocese for covering up previous allegations.