Texas police raid Catholic offices in sexual abuse probe

[Swordsmyth]

Texas police investigating child sexual abuse on Wednesday raided offices of the Catholic diocese in Dallas, after alleging that church officials had not been fully cooperative.Police served search warrants at the headquarters of the diocese, a storage location and offices of a local church.
The raids were connected to the investigation of a fugitive priest named Edmundo Paredes and at least five new allegations of abuse against other suspects, police said.
"These investigations stem from additional allegations made after the case against Mr. Paredes became public," Major Max Geron of the Dallas police said.
Paredes is charged with sexual abuse of a child and accused of molesting at least three other minors. He disappeared from the suburban Dallas church where he served for decades and is believed to have fled to his native Philippines.
The Dallas diocese said the raids did not involve any suspects who had not been publicly disclosed on a list of 31 predator priests going back to the 1950s. The diocese released the list in January.
"The diocese has been cooperating with the ongoing investigation of these priests," Dallas Bishop Edward Burns told reporters.
A judge approved the warrants after police alleged that church officials had not been fully cooperative, according to The Dallas Morning News, which obtained a copy of court records.
"To date, the Dallas Police Department has not been given the number of priests' files flagged for sexual abuse," the newspaper quoted police as saying in an affidavit.
Police accused the church of hiding allegations against priests or providing incomplete information, according to the newspaper.
"We believed at this point that executing search warrants was wholly appropriate for the furtherance of the investigation," Geron said.


https://news.yahoo.com/texas-police-...220854867.html

[DamianTV]

It does go to show that real criminals are not afraid to hide behind children, religion, or flags.

[oyarde]

I guess I really do not understand or something is off . Which is possible because reporters are not very good .Cops say this is about 31 suspects dating to the 1950's . Then they say they do not have the files on these . So it is bull$#@! or somebody has not done their job for oh , about 70 years .

[oyarde]

What it leads me to believe is cops are saying they think the church is hiding personal info that would help them find some of these and nobody ever checked on it before . So law enforcement pension checks probably need frozen .LOL

[oyarde]

It comes down to who might be the most corrupt , cops , judges or diocese . Tough call . I normally lean towards the cops and judges though ...........

[ATruepatriot]

I guess I really do not understand or something is off . Which is possible because reporters are not very good .Cops say this is about 31 suspects dating to the 1950's . Then they say they do not have the files on these . So it is bull$#@! or somebody has not done their job for oh , about 70 years .

Clergy, like police and judges, have historically always been granted immunity from suspicion.

[ATruepatriot]

It comes down to who might be the most corrupt , cops , judges or diocese . Tough call . I normally lean towards the cops and judges though ...........

Yep...

[oyarde]

Clergy, like police and judges, have historically always been granted immunity from suspicion.

The only fair way to handle this would be for the governor to bring in a special prosecutor to force anyone involved in the past seven decades to resign and get a real job. LOL

[oyarde]

Seems to me it is most likely the cops do have the files and they are fishing for something else . Hard to say . You are basically thinking about a pile of people who cannot be trusted , child molesters and cops .