TRENTON (NJ)
News 12 New Jersey/ newjersey.news12.com
November 19, 2024
By Walt Kane
The investigation was announced by then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal after the Vatican released a list of nearly 200 New Jersey clergy it said were “credibly accused” of abuse.
Six years after it promised a full investigation into the issue of sexual abuse by members of the clergy, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General has still not released its results.
The investigation was announced by then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal after the Vatican released a list of nearly 200 New Jersey clergy it said were “credibly accused” of abuse. The list included former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the highest-ranking U.S. church official to face such accusations. The McCarrick case was the subject of a recent episode of News 12’s docuseries, “Crime Files.”
Greg Gianforcaro, an attorney who has represented numerous clergy abuse survivors, notes that a similar investigation by the Pennsylvania attorney general was completed in just two years. He wonders what’s taking New Jersey so long.
“It’s curious as to why the Attorney General’s Office has not come out with that report,” Gianforcaro says. “The Attorney General’s Office needs to disclose their investigation. They need to collect their data, finish their report, and disclose what their findings are.”
Bob Hoatson, a former priest and clergy abuse survivor who now advocates for fellow survivors, is hopeful the NJOAG’s report, when it comes, will be worth waiting for.
“I’m in constant touch with the lead investigator,” says Hoatson, who founded a nonprofit called Road to Recovery. “And I’m hopeful that this report that they’re going to produce is going to be, very, very telling.”
Kane In Your Corner attempted to speak to Attorney General Matt Platkin’s office about when a report might be coming and why the process has taken so long. A spokesperson said two weeks ago that the agency was “working on” a written statement.
News 12 received that statement on Tuesday.
“While we cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, we continue to encourage all New Jerseyans with information relevant to incidents of clergy abuse to come forward and report that information to authorities,” the spokesperson stated.
You can watch a rebroadcast of “Crime Files: Ungodly Acts” this weekend on News 12 New York.