Area Priest Headed for Court Over Child Porn

Original article
11-05-09

The Rev. Robert Timchak, known to many in the region as “Father Bob,” Wednesday waived his right to a preliminary hearing on charges related to possessing male child pornography on his computers at the St. Vincent Church in Pike County, according to his attorney, Joseph Petorak Timchak.

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The hearing was to be before District Judge Alan Cooper in Shohola. Timchak, a Roman Catholic priest who has spoken out against the church as a columnist for The Times Leader, faces 18 felony counts relating to having images of males in various stages of nudity performing sexual acts, at least 18 of which were identified by a medical doctor as depicting males younger than 18 years old.

He also faces a misdemeanor charge for attempting to delete some of the evidence.

According to the criminal complaint:

The Diocese of Scranton was made aware of the alleged crime in December 2008, when it received an anonymous letter containing explicit photographs of young males and online comments that linked to the identity “booker1441” on Web sites Xtube.com and Youtube.com. The Youtube account was closed in July 2008.

The letter included the cover of a bulletin from the St. John Neumann and Good Shepherd churches in Pike County, listing Timchak’s e-mail address as: booker1441@aol.com

“Coincidence? You do the math,” the letter stated.

Within a week, the state police at Blooming Grove received the letter and its contents. In April, two troopers contacted Timchak at the St. Vincent Church’s rectory in Dingman Township.

He acknowledged ownership of two computers, of which he was the sole user, along with the e-mail accounts booker1441@gmail.com, booker1441@aol.com and bobtimchak@aol.com. He said he often visited Web sites such as Youtube.com, Facebook.com, Twitter.com, Godtube.com and Teathertube.com, but said he closed his Youtube account “sometime ago” because a female parishioner questioned some of the videos he was watching.

Timchak consented to a search of both computers and called back two days later to admit that after learning state police wanted to talk to him, he had attempted to delete the images.

The subsequent search turned up the images, which were sent to Dr. Andi Taroli of the Pegasus Child Advocacy Center in Scranton. Taroli reported that at least 18 of the images were of underage males. Those were then sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which reported that those images were of identified child victims from two series known as “Brad&Bry” and “Jesse.”

Accused Pike County Priest Waives Hearing

Original article
11/05/09

DINGMAN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Pike County Roman Catholic priest waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday on charges related to possessing child pornography on his computer.

The Rev. Robert Timchak, 43, turned himself in on Oct. 20. An anonymous letter to the Diocese of Scranton tipped off church officials that someone using Timchak's e-mail address had been accessing child pornography.

Timchak allowed police to search his computers, from which they determined he had attempted to delete pictures of nude or partially nude males.

Since April, Timchak has been on a leave of absence from his duties as assistant pastor of St. John Neumann in Lords Valley and St. Vincent De Paul in Milford.

The Pocono Record

Child-Porn Charges Against Priest, who Briefly Taught at Notre Dame, go to Court

Original article
11/05/09
By Michael Sadowski
Pocono Record Writer

SHOHOLA — A priest and onetime teacher at Notre Dame Elementary in East Stroudsburg accused of having child pornography on his computer will be headed to court after he waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday.

The Rev. Robert Timchak, 43, who has been an assistant pastor in Pike County for two years after working throughout the Diocese of Scranton since 1992, is charged with 17 counts of sexual abuse of children for having explicit pictures of underage boys on his personal computer. The police affidavit accuses Timchak of downloading the photos from two Internet porn sites.

He waived his right to a preliminary hearing in front of Magisterial District Judge Alan Cooper.

The investigation into Timchak has been going on since last December, when the Diocese of Scranton received an anonymous tip that Timchak may be using a computer for inappropriate use, according to the diocese.

The diocese reported the tip to the Pike County District Attorney's Office, which turned the investigation over to the state police.

According to the diocese, it was told to do nothing that might tip off Timchak to the investigation. Police first questioned Timchak in April, according to the police affidavit. According to the diocesan statement, Timchak had been granted a leave of absence in April and was not removed from his position in Pike County during much of the investigation.

He stayed on as assistant pastor at St. Vincent de Paul in Milford and St. John Neumann in Lords Valley.

"If Father Timchak had been accused of sexual abuse against a minor in the form of actual physical contact, and if this allegation was credible, he would have been removed immediately," the diocese said. "In this case, there was an anonymous accusation that had to be investigated and verified before any action could be taken. The diocese cooperated completely with law enforcement in this case from the beginning."

In addition to his time in Pike County, Timchak also worked as a student teacher at Notre Dame from September to November 2007. In December 2008, he worked as an occasional substitute teacher at Notre Dame and "occasionally celebrated Mass" there, according to a statement from the Diocese of Scranton, and "possibly" attended school functions.

He also worked as a substitute in other local elementary schools, the diocese said. Trooper Sandra VanLuvender of the state police said she could not reveal which elementary schools were involved, but she did confirm some were public schools.

Sixteen of the counts of sexual abuse are second-degree felonies and one of the counts is a third-degree felony.

He also faces charges with criminal use of a communication facility and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

According to the affidavit, Timchak admitted early on in the investigation that when he found out he may be investigated by police, he tried to "delete graphic files from his computer."

There was not a court date set for the trial.

Timchak remains free, released on his own recognizance.

Rwanda: ICTR to Sentence Priest Accused of Genocide

Original article
11/05/09

Kigali — The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will this month render judgement in the case of a Catholic priest, Father Hormisdas Nsengimana, who is facing Genocide charges.

A former head of Christ the King College (Christ Roi) in Nyanza, Southern Province, Nsengimana, is accused of Genocide, Conspiracy to commit Genocide, and Crimes against Humanity, Murder and Extermination.

The judgment, scheduled for November 17, is the fourth of its kind on the ICTR indictment of religious leaders.

The Prosecution in February this year maintained that given the capacity of Nsengimana as a religious leader, he deserves no lesser punishment than life imprisonment for his role in killing innocent people in Nyanza.

Prosecutor Wallace Kapaya told court that the prosecution had presented enough evidence that Nsengimana took part in a joint criminal enterprise with several people.

"He wanted to get rid of Tutsi priests in Nyanza; he sent members of his death squad "The Dragons" to kill them and they indeed killed them," Wallace said at the time.

He added; "He himself killed Father Mathieu a man of God, a colleague, a brother with whom he had worked with for several years."

Athanase Seromba, a former vicar in Nyange, in western Rwanda, had his 15 year sentence overturned by the Appeals Court to life in jail early this year.

Emmanuel Rukundo, a former Military Chaplain was sentenced to 25-years imprisonment in February, this year. Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a former vicar at the Parish of the Holy Family in Kigali, will be tried in France.

Full Publication of Clerical Child Sex Abuse Report May Take Years

Original article
11/07/09

THE PUBLICATION of a crucial chapter in the report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation could be delayed by years, according to well-informed sources.

The chapter is understood to be significant because it deals with shortcomings in how the State and the Garda Síochána dealt with allegations of clerical child sex abuse in Dublin, including the case of a priest alleged to have committed a large number of offences.

Sources emphasised the absence of this chapter would, in their view, render the report skewed and unbalanced as it is “by far the longest, at approximately 60 pages, and one of the most important” chapters.

The full report, which makes findings on the handling of clerical child abuse allegations by church and civil authorities in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin, was presented to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern last July.

The report was cleared for publication, with some edits, by Mr Justice Paul Gilligan on October 15th. However, the day after the High Court ruling, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) raised new concerns with the Department of Justice that publishing the report could jeopardise legal proceedings against the priest.

It was referred back to the High Court on October 21st by the Minister for Justice, following these fresh concerns on the part of the DPP.

Mr Justice Gilligan heard legal submissions on this latest matter, in camera, on October 29th. He has yet to announce his decision.

The relevant chapter is highly critical of the Garda and other civil authorities in their handling of clerical child abuse allegations during the relevant period.

In spring of this year, the day before the DPP gave evidence to a hearing of the commission, a decision was taken to initiate extradition proceedings against the priest on foot of allegations received 20 years previously.

This is the case which, it is understood, prompted the DPP on October 16th last to raise his concerns about the report as cleared for publication by Mr Justice Gilligan the previous day.

Well-informed sources also highlighted the fact that should extradition proceedings go ahead in the case, these would most likely be resisted. This could mean, in the jurisdiction concerned, that it could be years before an outcome.

The Dublin report followed an inquiry by the Commission of Investigation Dublin Archdiocese which began in March 2006 and looked at how allegations of clerical child abuse were handled by church and civil authorities there between January 1st, 1975, and April 30th, 2004. It was first referred by the Minister to the High Court on September 8th.

Clergy abuse survivors call diocese settlement offer a "second rape"

Original article

by Ashton Goodell
Friday, October 30, 2009

FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- Victims of clergy sex abuse in the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese call the latest settlement plan a "second rape" and say the dollar amount just isn't enough for what they went through. But the diocese claims it's a fair and fast way to settle the claims.

The diocese says it's fair: everyone gets something, and sooner rather than later.

But victims say they've waited years for the church to do the right thing -- and they say this new plan isn't it.

These women who share the same culture and the same pain lost more than their innocence as children. They lost their faith.

"It's really hard to actually believe there is a God after what happened in church," said sex abuse survivor Rena Abouchuk.

As adults most of them took to drinking to dull the pain. Some considered suicide, and all kept the sex abuse a secret for too long.

"When I had to tell my mom," said survivor Margo Francis Small. "When I had to call her when I was going through counseling, it came to a point there when I didn't want to have a life any more. I didn't want to live any more, because the pain was hitting me inside."

They waited for years to come forward, then years more for a settlement. They finally got one, but they say it's not enough.

The diocese filed a reorganization plan in federal bankruptcy court Monday to settle the claims. It says $5,500 is the minimum a person can receive, but individual survivors will get more depending on the degree of abuse.

"Depending on how badly you were harmed or how much you suffered, you will get X amount more," said Robert Hannon, the diocese's chancellor. "So they will receive considerably more than that $5,500."

The idea is to ensure everyone who filed a claim gets something, and that those who were harmed the most get the most.

The new plan will give more money to victims than the original plan, offered after the diocese filed for bankruptcy almost a year and a half ago, and they'll get it in 30 days.

"This is an attempt to bring forward a plan that fairly compensates people and gets them the money sooner," Hannon said.

The diocese came up with a plan to sell ministry property to its own endowment to get $7.5 million to pay the claims.

It also plans to put other properties up for sale to make the total settlement $11 million. But victims say when it's divided among 300 people, the settlement is like pocket change.

"To me is about what everyone needs to see about what happened," Abouchuk said. "It needs to be known, it needs to be heard."

A court-appointed arbitrator will consider the claims case by case and determine how much each person will get. After going through that process, the diocese says victims will likely get more than the minimum -- but victims say they'd rather wait for a larger settlement.

To implement the plan, all of the diocese's creditors have to vote on it first. Then a judge will make a final decision on whether it should go forward by early next year. If that happens the diocese will pay the claims within a month of the decision.

Contact Ashton Goodell at agoodell@ktuu.com

Abuse Victims Call for Full inquiry

Original article
Published Date: 30 October 2009

VICTIMS of child abuse in Northern Ireland have demanded a full inquiry into the mistreatment they suffered in institutions run by the Catholic Church and the state.

The victims have called for a major investigation similar to the Ryan Report earlier this year that catalogued abuse by Catholic clergy in the Republic.

They are being supported in their call by DUP MP David Simpson, who has long called for a full public inquiry into the scale of clerical and institutional child abuse.

Sinn Fein has also backed a full probe.

A lawyer for the victims said they suffered sexual and physical abuse in cases dating back to the 1940s, but believed they have been discriminated against since inquiries in the south of Ireland did not extend to Northern Ireland.

Solicitor Joe Rice said he had written to First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, as well as Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, detailing the demand for an inquiry into child abuse in the jurisdiction over the last 70 years.

Mr Rice said many of his clients had approached him and other solicitors following the release of the Ryan Report.

"We have instructions from a significant number of clients who have been, and are, the victims of abuse, whether sexual, emotional, physical or through neglect, in numerous church and state-run institutions in Northern Ireland since 1947," the victims' letter read.

"It is apparent that the level of abuse was widespread and endemic and moreover that all the institutions involved had a duty of care to those children placed in their trust and responsibility under the different statutory frameworks in the post-war period."

Upper Bann MP David Simpson said the level of both clerical and state abuse needed to be established.

Mr Simpson said: "The Ryan Report uncovered abuse of children on a monumental scale in institutions run by religious orders and by the state in the Irish Republic.

"We need to know the scale of the problem of child abuse in similar institutions in Northern Ireland so that we can bring the guilty parties to justice and ensure that those affected receive the help that they deserve."

Sinn Fein MLA Sue Ramsey, who sits on the Stormont health committee, said her party supported the victims' call.

She said: "Victims in the north deserve to have their abuse and mistreatment acknowledged, there needs to be full accountability and restitution from the religious orders. They need to fully accept their moral obligation to the victims."

The Catholic Church last night issued a statement on behalf of the northern bishops.

It said that any decision to hold an inquiry must be made by the state.

The statement said: "Anyone who has concerns about child abuse should raise them with the civil authorities and, if they wish, with the church's National Office for Safeguarding Children, where these concerns will be dealt with appropriately."