OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com )
As Toledo, OH welcomes their new bishop, we hope that Bishop Daniel E. Thomas will be a better advocate for clergy sex abuse victims than his predecessor was.
In 2010, Toledo Catholic officials kept quiet about and waited six months to investigate alleged sexual misdeeds by Kevin Yeckley, a Catholic school counselor. He admitted “periodically” hugging a girl, working “alone for several consecutive Saturdays” with her and telling her “he was . . .having uncomfortable feelings for her.”
Toledo Catholic officials admit that in around March 2009, a victim told a teacher about Yeckley’s alleged misdeeds, but they only started to investigate in October, some six or seven months later. Delays like this endanger kids and enable predators to intimidate victims, threaten whistle blowers, discredit witnesses, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and keep hurting children.
Dennis Gary is another example of the Diocese of Toledo irresponsibly handling child sex abuse. Gary was sued in 2002 and 2003 for sexually abusing boys. The diocese had been warned about Gray in the 1980s, but they allowed him to leave the priesthood without taking action against him or warning his future employers. Gray was later found working as a teacher and SNAP believes in 2012 he was trying to join a church in Perrsyburg.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.