Ex-priest arrested, accused of child molestation

[Ian David]

LOS ANGELES A former Los Angeles priest has been arrested amid a larger investigation into allegations of child molestation by Catholic priests.
Fifty-eight-year-old Michael Baker was spared similar charges in 2003 when the U-S Supreme Court ruled prosecutors could not act on decades-old offenses.

In October, authorities reopened a case involving two brothers who claimed Baker molested them when they were younger. Authorities say Thursday's arrest involved one of those brothers.

The archdiocese says Baker's history "is a bad one," involving an earlier admission to molesting children and treatment for sexual abuse problems. In later assignments to nine different parishes, the archdiocese says Baker violated restrictions on contact with minors.

More:
http://www.kxlf.com/Global/story.asp?S=4387255


See also:

Ex-Priest Arrested for Suspected Lewd Acts

Last Updated:
01-20-06 at 11:20AM

<snip>

Cardinal Roger Mahony removed Baker from the ministry in 2000 when the archdiocese reached a confidential settlement with the two brothers who now live in Mexico. He didn't notify police of their allegations until 2003.

<snip>

According to the archdiocese, Baker told Mahony in 1986 that he had molested children from 1978 to 1985.

Mahony did not notify police but sent Baker to a residential facility that treated priests for sexual abuse problems.

In the years that followed, Baker was assigned to nine different parishes but barred from having one-on-one contact with minors. He violated those restrictions three times, according to church personnel file summaries that the archdiocese has released.

More:
http://www.kfmb.com/stories/story.35511.html



Also:

SACRED HEART CHURCH
Diocese bars priest in ’77 abuse allegation
Friday, January 20, 2006
Dennis M . Mahoney
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Samuel Ritchey, 62, was ordained in 1973 and has served as a pastor and a teacher in central Ohio.


Robin Miller — who would respond to questions only by email — refused to say whether the victim was male or female, or where the abuse took place, citing the victim’s request for confidentiality.


<snip>

Since 2002, three Columbus Diocese priests have been laicized.

Joseph Fete and Michael Ellifritz were kicked out by the Vatican for sexual abuse.

Martin Weithman was removed as pastor of Seton Parish in Pickerington by then-Bishop James A. Griffin in 2002 after he was accused of molesting a teenage boy, Dennis Palmer, in the late 1980s. The diocese paid Palmer $115,000 after he threatened to sue.

Although he maintained his innocence, Weithman reached a settlement with the diocese in 2004 and also was removed from the priesthood.

More:
http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/01/20/20060120-D1-06.html

[MichiganVote]

1. Mahoney is a verifiable SOB who has done as much to hide his pedophiles

as Law in Boston did. Must be time for another promotion to the Vatican.

[TaleWgnDg]

2. Uuummmmmmm, according to Senator Rick Santorum . . .

.
Uuummmmmmm, according to (Roman Catholic) U.S. Senator Rick Santorum . . . all is the liberal and academic culture of Boston and Massachusetts' fault. Indeed. For we, here, in the great and progressive Commonwealth of Massachusetts intentionally, willfully, and knowingly allowed priests to sexually abuse Roman Catholic children entrusted to the Church's care. Yup. I wonder if Santorum means that Bay Staters (folks who reside in Massachusetts) are also responsible for California priest pedophilia? Most likely. As well as in Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Washington, Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Wales, England, Spain, Poland and Santorum's own home state of Pennsylvania . . . and this has been going on for how long? centuries? Shall I continue?


"It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior (perpetrated by Roman Catholic priests), since (the media and academia) have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning "private" moral matters such as alternative lifestyles. (Roman Catholic) priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm." - U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R, Pennsylvania)
http://capitolbuzz.blogspot.com/2005/06/santorum-blames-boston-for-catholic.html . . . quoting from . . . http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=30
(bold-faced type emphasis added by TaleWgnDg)

May the "Honorable" U.S. Senator Rick Santorum suffer the same ills as those who have for so long punished these innocent Roman Catholic children.
.

[saigon68]

3. apparently when he saw their bare little bottoms he couldn't control

HIMSELF.

THUGS, CHILD RAPISTS AND HOODLUMS ANALLY RAPING CHILDREN

Nice.</sarcasm>