Rudy Giuliani Employs Alan Placa, Accused Pedophile Lawyer-Priest
Who Is Alan Placa?
http://www.telegram.com/article/20070722/NEWS/707220489/1116
[quote="Gill Donovan for National Catholic Reporter“]The grand jury further identified the role played by the diocese’s Office of Legal Affairs, usually identified as the “intervention team,” formed of three people assigned to handle allegations of sexual abuse. Two members of the team were lawyers. Murphy dismantled the team last April.
The grand jury has charged that while the team tried to appear sympathetic to victims, its goal was actually protecting the diocese through discouraging lawsuits, persuading victims to not go public with accusations and assisting abusive priests in efforts to remain in ministry.
Though the grand jury report didn’t name the team, according to Newsday, one of the members was, in all likelihood, Msgr. Alan Placa, the diocese’s former vice chancellor who in April was temporarily removed from ministry for allegations that he had sexually abused minors at a school where he served as dean 25 years ago. The paper identified Placa as “Priest F” in the grand jury report.
Priest F was the diocese’s chief engineer of its legal defense policy. He often served the diocese by collecting information that might challenge the credibility of an alleged victim, should a lawsuit be brought. In many cases, Priest F was the first person from the diocese to contact alleged victims.
Only rarely did he identify himself as an attorney. The report quoted a memo from Priest F in which he asked a diocesan official to not identify him to alleged victims as a lawyer:
“In fact, in these cases, I am functioning in an administrative capacity,” he wrote. “My legal training is very useful in helping to gather and analyze facts, and in helping us to avoid some obvious pitfalls, but we must avoid ‘frightening’ people: I have had several people refuse to see me without having an attorney of their own present, because they are afraid that ‘the church lawyer’ will somehow do them harm.”
Priest F, according to the report, “ignored, belittled and revictimized” victims. “In some cases, the grand jury finds that the diocese procrastinated for the sole purpose of making sure that the civil and criminal statutes of limitation were no longer applicable.” The report said that in once instance, Priest F told a nun that seeing one victim was a waste of his time because the statute of limitations in the case had expired.
According to the report, the nun’s response was, “You bastard, these people are hurting. Why do you care about the statute of limitations? That’s not why we are here.”[/quote]
What Exactly Does The Suffolk County Supreme Court Grand Jury Report Say About Alan Placa, aka ”Priest F?“
This is quoted from the May 6, 2002 Grand Jury Report from Suffolk County, New York. The section concerns ”Priest F,“ who is said to be Alan Placa. The extracted pages from the grand jury report are attached below. The full Grand Jury Report is also attached, but quite long, so download only if you have high speed access.
Shaun Sutner for The Worcester Telegram wrote:
Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani has close ties to a Catholic priest accused of sexually molesting boys and who also was the lawyer for a now-closed Whitinsville counseling house for troubled priests that has been described as the center of a pedophile sex ring.
Monsignor Alan J. Placa, who works for Mr. Giuliani’s consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, was legal adviser in the 1980s to the House of Affirmation, where priests accused of sexual abuse were sent for psychotherapy and other counseling services. The center closed in 1987 amid a financial scandal.
Monsignor Placa, who while an active priest arranged the annulment of Mr. Giuliani’s first marriage, baptized his two children and officiated at the funeral of his mother, is a childhood friend of Mr. Giuliani and they both attended Manhattanville College.
He was stripped of his duties as a priest, but not defrocked, after Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, published a story in 2002 about young men who alleged that Monsignor Placa abused them in the 1970s. He has been on administrative leave since and has worked for Mr. Giuliani for the past five years.
Catholic activists who are fighting the church over the clergy sex abuse issue say Mr. Giuliani’s association with the monsignor raises serious questions about the former New York mayor’s candidacy.
“The White House should not be inhabited by a man whose closest friend is accused of being an abuser of young men,” said Ann Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org in Massachusetts. “Giuliani has a responsibility to account for his friendship with Alan Placa and I think he should speak with Alan Placa’s accusers and see how credible they are.
“For Giuliani to turn a blind eye to these credible allegations raises questions about his judgment,” she said.
Jeffrey Barker, a spokesman for Mr. Giuliani’s campaign, declined comment, directing questions to Giuliani Partners, Mr. Giuliani’s security consulting firm. Mr. Giuliani leads all GOP presidential contenders in Massachusetts polls.
“Rudy Giuliani believes Alan Placa has been unjustly accused,” Sunny Mindel, a spokeswoman for the company, said in a prepared statement.
Monsignor Placa did not respond to a request for an interview.
http://www.telegram.com/article/20070722/NEWS/707220489/1116
[quote="Gill Donovan for National Catholic Reporter“]The grand jury further identified the role played by the diocese’s Office of Legal Affairs, usually identified as the “intervention team,” formed of three people assigned to handle allegations of sexual abuse. Two members of the team were lawyers. Murphy dismantled the team last April.
The grand jury has charged that while the team tried to appear sympathetic to victims, its goal was actually protecting the diocese through discouraging lawsuits, persuading victims to not go public with accusations and assisting abusive priests in efforts to remain in ministry.
Though the grand jury report didn’t name the team, according to Newsday, one of the members was, in all likelihood, Msgr. Alan Placa, the diocese’s former vice chancellor who in April was temporarily removed from ministry for allegations that he had sexually abused minors at a school where he served as dean 25 years ago. The paper identified Placa as “Priest F” in the grand jury report.
Priest F was the diocese’s chief engineer of its legal defense policy. He often served the diocese by collecting information that might challenge the credibility of an alleged victim, should a lawsuit be brought. In many cases, Priest F was the first person from the diocese to contact alleged victims.
Only rarely did he identify himself as an attorney. The report quoted a memo from Priest F in which he asked a diocesan official to not identify him to alleged victims as a lawyer:
“In fact, in these cases, I am functioning in an administrative capacity,” he wrote. “My legal training is very useful in helping to gather and analyze facts, and in helping us to avoid some obvious pitfalls, but we must avoid ‘frightening’ people: I have had several people refuse to see me without having an attorney of their own present, because they are afraid that ‘the church lawyer’ will somehow do them harm.”
Priest F, according to the report, “ignored, belittled and revictimized” victims. “In some cases, the grand jury finds that the diocese procrastinated for the sole purpose of making sure that the civil and criminal statutes of limitation were no longer applicable.” The report said that in once instance, Priest F told a nun that seeing one victim was a waste of his time because the statute of limitations in the case had expired.
According to the report, the nun’s response was, “You bastard, these people are hurting. Why do you care about the statute of limitations? That’s not why we are here.”[/quote]
Giuliani employs his childhood friend Monsignor Alan Placa as a consultant at Giuliani Partners despite a 2003 Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury report that accuses Placa of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests. Placa, who was part of a three-person team that handled allegations of abuse by clergy for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, is referred to as Priest F in the grand jury report. The report summarizes the testimony of multiple alleged victims of Priest F, and then notes, ”Ironically, Priest F would later become instrumental in the development of Diocesan policy in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests.“
Five years after he was suspended from his duties because of the abuse allegations, Placa is currently listed as ”priest in residence“ at St. Aloysius Church in Great Neck, N.Y., where close friend Brendan Riordan serves as pastor, and officially lives at the rectory there with Riordan. In addition, Placa co-owns a penthouse apartment in Manhattan with Riordan, the latest in a half-dozen properties the two men have owned in common at various times since the late 1980s.
Placa has worked for Giuliani Partners since 2002. As of June 2007, he remains on the payroll. ”He is currently employed here,“ Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel confirmed to Salon, adding that Giuliani ”believes Alan has been unjustly accused.“ Mindel declined to discuss what role Placa plays with the consulting firm, or how much he is paid. Says Richard Tollner, who testified before the grand jury that Placa had molested him, ”[Giuliani] has to speak up for himself and explain himself. If he doesn't, people shouldn't vote for him.“ Adds Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks suspected priest abuse, ”I think Rudy Giuliani has to account for his friendship with a credibly accused child molester.“
What Exactly Does The Suffolk County Supreme Court Grand Jury Report Say About Alan Placa, aka ”Priest F?“
This is quoted from the May 6, 2002 Grand Jury Report from Suffolk County, New York. The section concerns ”Priest F,“ who is said to be Alan Placa. The extracted pages from the grand jury report are attached below. The full Grand Jury Report is also attached, but quite long, so download only if you have high speed access.
Priest F
Child sexual abuse is an insidious crime that takes many forms. Some are more overt
than others. In Priest F’s case, his conduct was, at first, so equivocal, his victims weren’t really sure it was happening to them – that is, until it happened again and again and again.
In Priest F’s first assignment, he appears to have made feeble attempts at abusing a boy
who was an alter server. Once, when he was working at the rectory on a slow evening, the boy was in the office watching TV, Priest F came in and asked if he could join him. He pulled up a chair next to the boy and put his right hand on his thigh. Slowly his hand began to creep up towards the boy’s genital area. Alarmed, the boy covered his crotch. After Priest F’s efforts to push his arm away failed, Priest F gave up and left. The boy remembered that Priest F was very nervous. He never told anyone at the time because he didn’t think anyone would believe him.
The conduct repeated itself within a week, only this time, the boy crossed his legs as soon
as Priest F pulled up his chair. Even so, Priest F tried to push his hand between the boy’s legs.
Throughout both encounters, Priest F never said a word. Even after this second incident, the boy never told anyone. He was embarrassed and didn’t want any of his friends to think he was a homosexual. This victim came forward decades later, only after Priest F denied sexually abusing anyone in a local newspaper story about sexually abusive priests.
After his first assignment, Priest F was transferred within the Diocese to an assignment
outside of parish ministry. It was, however, an assignment that provided a large and continuous source of boys – a school. Priest F was cautious, but relentless in his pursuit of victims. He fondled boys over their clothes, usually in his office. Always, his actions were hidden by a poster, newspaper or a book.39 He talked continuously as he fondled them. Everyone in the school knew to stay away from Priest F.
Once, Priest F approached one of the boys behind the school stage. He grabbed his
crotch. The boy reacted violently, pushing Priest F away and warning him never to touch him again.
At one point, two victims complained to the schools’ rector, a priest, about Priest F. The
complaint resulted from one boy’s suspicions, later confirmed to be correct, that Priest F was abusing another younger boy. The pair thought a complaint by two of them would have to be believed. It wasn’t.
The tragic death of a victim’s father led, finally, to the end of Priest F’s sexual abuse of
him. At the funeral home, Priest F approached the boy, moving close to him. As he moved his hand towards his genitals, the boy told Priest F, “Don’t ever fucking touch me again or I’ll kill you.” This event was witnessed by another boy who saw the abusive conduct by Priest F and heard the response to it.
After this, both boys were determined to do something about the situation. One boy
alerted his parents who accompanied him to a meeting at the school. They spoke with the rector and a lay teacher. No action was ever taken by them or anyone else against Priest F. One of the victims described the effect this had on his relationship with his family:
”I had a difficult time with this with my family. I grew up very Irish Catholic,
very, very conservative…It was a very conservative environment, and the
response I had gotten from my family, from my parents specifically was, that’s
impossible…Priests just don’t do these things. You must be mistaken…and, of
course, you didn’t question it because it’s impossible.”
One of the victims remembers the first incident of abuse taking place when preparations were underway to attend a right-to-life march on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. The students were making banners with Priest F’s help. It was a banner that was used as the foil on this occasion. Ironically, Priest F would later become instrumental in the development of Diocesan policy in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests.