PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com
MARCH 22, 2016
by Maria Panaritis, Staff Writer
The three veteran investigators were speechless.
For just a few months, they had waded into a probe of clergy sex abuse in central Pennsylvania. They didn’t yet know much. But they had heard about a man near Altoona named George Foster.
Foster, they were told, had long been “making noise” about eliminating abusive priests in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown – writing letters in the local papers, meeting with church leaders. Daniel Dye, the deputy attorney general leading the investigation, knew he was someone worth meeting.
But Dye and the two agents with him were not prepared for what they saw as Foster arrived at a Pittsburgh hotel to meet them for a cup of coffee in late 2014.
Foster came carting an armload of manila folders. Each was labeled. “Victim 1.” “Victim 2.” And so on. Others bore the names of priests. Inside were detailed accounts from victims and others.
Years’ worth.
“You kept files?” Dye asked incredulously.
“Oh, yeah,” he told them. “People have been coming to me for years.”
“Why didn’t you ever take these files to the police?” Dye asked him.
“Well,” Foster said, “some of what’s in here, I’m getting from the police.”
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