HI–Victims blast judge for predator’s light sentence

HAWAII
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, March 12

Statement by Joelle Casteix of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests 949 322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com

We’re appalled that an admitted child molesting teacher may spend just a year in prison.

[Hawaii News Now]

We are deeply disappointed in Judge Glenn Kim’s decision to jail William Plourde so briefly. And we call on him to publicly explain why he gave such a lenient sentence – more appropriate for a purse snatcher than a child molester.

We beg officials in the Hawaii Catholic Church to aggressively reach out to anyone who saw, suspects, or suffered child sex crimes by Plourde and urge them to call police and prosecutors so that he might be charged again and kept away from kids longer. We suspect, based on our group’s 25 year history, that other current or former staff at Sacred Hearts Academy had inklings that Plourde had sexually violated kids but kept silent. We hope they’ll find the courage to step forward now.

It’s very possible that Plourde could be prosecuted and convicted for other child sex crimes. But the best way to make that happen is for Catholic school and church officials to use their vast resources to prod though who may have information or suspicions about Plourde to call law enforcement right away.

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