CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald
January 18, 2019
By Christopher Placek and Steve Zalusky
The Rev. John P. Smyth, a well-known Chicago-area priest and one-time leader of Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, faces allegations of sexual abuse of minors, Archdiocese of Chicago officials said Friday.
The allegations, which pertain to the 2002-2003 span during the end of Smyth’s tenure at the academy, were received by the archdiocese’s Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review, according to a statement from the archdiocese.
Jeanine Stevens, the attorney who represents the two men making the allegations, said one was 13 and the other was 14 when they were molested.
One of the boys came forward shortly after the molestation occurred, Stevens said.
“Nobody believed him and nobody did anything about it,” she said.
Both boys had been placed at Maryville’s Scott Nolan Center by a judge, she said.
“They were permanently harmed,” she said. “Both of these men came from unstable households. This significantly compounded issues they already had to deal with.”
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