State’s AG criticizes priest rape disclosures By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola Gallup Independent correspondent religion@gallupindependent.com October 11, 2018 GALLUP – Officials with the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office criticized the state’s three Roman Catholic dioceses for failing to sufficiently disclose requested documents and information about clergy sex abuse and misconduct. Attorney General Hector Balderas had sent a demand letter to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, the Diocese of Gallup and the Diocese of Las Cruces on Sept. 4, requesting a broad scope of information about clergy sex abuse, misconduct and cover-up from 1950 through Sept. 1, 2018. The submission deadline was Oct. 5. “All three New Mexican Catholic Dioceses have produced some of the documentation that was requested,” AG Spokesman David Carl said in an emailed statement Wednesday. “It is the opinion of the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General that those disclosures have, to this point, been insufficient. The Attorney General therefore requests that the dioceses expedite the remaining production.” ‘Very little patience’ Balderas, however, spoke more bluntly in a television news interview. The attorney general said he had “very little patience” with sexual abuse and was exploring his legal options regarding the insufficient disclosures. According to Balderas, he had requested a “full accounting of every type of alleged abuse” for the nearly70year period. The demand letters to the dioceses did not limit the investigation’s scope to the sexual abuse of children. Instead, the dioceses were asked to provide complete copies of personnel files for any church officials alleged to have committed sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, inappropriate contact, boundary issues, familiarity, addiction, scandal, serious misconduct, grooming of children, pornography, socializing with children, or drug or alcohol abuse. The AG also asked for the names of all church officials who may have been the subject of a sexual abuse/misconduct accusation, even if the accusation was withdrawn or found to be unsubstantiated. Bankruptcy defense All three Catholic dioceses have pledged to cooperate with the AG’s investigation. However, officials with the Diocese of Gallup are citing their Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court as the reason they cannot produce all of the documents. Suzanne Hammons, a spokeswoman for the Gallup Diocese, posted the following statement on the diocesan website Wednesday: “The Diocese would like to express our clear intent to cooperate with state authorities from both New Mexico and Arizona. Because many of our records were sealed through our recent Chapter 11 process, we would be in violation of federal law if we were to hand over many of the documents requested through the NM Attorney General’s office. However, we are not opposed to the offices of the attorneys general seeking to gain approval through the federal courts to review the requested documents.” The diocesan website features a letter sent to the AG’s Office by the diocese’s Gallup law firm of Mason & Isaacson. In the letter, dated Oct. 5, attorneys Patrick T. Mason and James J. Mason state the Gallup Diocese was submitting a number of relevant documents including policies and procedures of the diocese, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Universal Law of the Roman Catholic Church and extensive bankruptcy court records. “As we have discussed, the Diocese of Gallup is in a unique position in that the bankruptcy process was extremely thorough and required disclosure and investigation of much of the materials you are requesting,” the attorneys said. “As we further discussed, in interest of protecting victim confidentiality, the Federal Bankruptcy Court put in place an order sealing many of the private records that you have requested to review.” If U.S. Bankruptcy Court officials approve the AG’s access to the confidential documents, the attorneys added, the Diocese of Gallup would welcome the attorney generals from both New Mexico and Arizona to review their relevant files. The attorneys’ letter concludes with a request that seems to ask the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office to share its confidential investigation findings with the Gallup Diocese: “Finally, in a spirit of building a strong partnership in the protection of victims, we are requesting that your office provide us any information and documentation you have regarding any claims of impropriety regarding the Diocese of Gallup.” The New Mexico Office of Attorney General is asking clergy sex abuse survivors to contact its investigators by calling the AG hotline at 505717-3512, by sending an email to kcarmona@nmag.gov or mailing a letter to P.O. Drawer 1508, Santa Fe, NM 87504. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Mexico has confirmed it is also interested in receiving information regarding allegations of clergy sex abuse on federally- protected land, such as Indian reservations, military bases or federal government property. Information may be reported to the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800225-5324), sent by email to usanm-priest@usdoj.gov or by mail at U.S. Attorney’s Office, P.O. Box 607, Albuquerque, NM 87103.

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