By Brian Witte -
The Associated Press
An investigation by the Maryland attorney general identified 158 Roman Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Baltimore who have been accused of sexually and physically abusing
more than 600 victims over the past 80 years,
according to court records filed Thursday.
Attorney General Brian Frosh announced that his office has completed a 463-page report on the investigation, which began in 2019. He filed a motion in the Baltimore Circuit Court to make the report public.
The court's permission is required because the report contains information from the grand jury subpoenas.
It is not clear when the court will make a decision.
“For decades survivors spoke out against sexual abuse by Catholic priests and for decades
the Church covered up the abuse instead of holding abusers accountable and protecting their congregations
,” Frosh wrote in the court filing.
"The Archdiocese of Baltimore was no exception."
Both boys and girls were abused, according to court records, from preschool to young adulthood.Getty Images
The document, titled
Clergy Abuse in Maryland ( Clergy Abuse in
Maryland, in Spanish) identifies 115 priests who were prosecuted for sexual abuse and/or publicly identified by the Archdiocese as "credibly accused."
It also includes 43 other priests accused of sexual abuse but not publicly identified by the Archdiocese, according to the court filing.
"The report summarizes the sexual abuse and physical torture perpetrated by the 158 priests and the Archdiocese's response to those abuses," the court filing states.
The Archdiocese did not immediately return a request for comment.
[The largest Protestant church in the country is being investigated for concealing sexual abuse. "Hallelujah. About time," said one victim]
While the court filing noted that more than 600 victims were identified, it also adds that
"there are almost certainly hundreds more
, as the Department of Justice's Annual Crime Victimization Report has shown that the majority of sexual assault incidents They are not reported."
Both boys and girls were abused, according to court records, from preschool to young adults.
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“Although no parish was safe, some congregations and schools were assigned multiple abusive priests, and a few had more than one sexually abusive priest at the same time,” the court filing states.
"A congregation was assigned 11 sexually abusive priests for 40 years."
The sexual abuse was so widespread, according to the court filing, that victims sometimes reported the sexual abuse to priests who also committed this crime.
Victims sometimes reported sexual abuse to priests who also committed this crime.
The investigation also revealed that the Archdiocese failed to report many allegations of sexual abuse, conduct proper investigations into the alleged abuse,
remove abusers from ministry, or restrict their access to children.
"Instead, he went to great lengths to keep the abuse a secret," the court filing says.
"Although the Archdiocese reported a large number of complaints to the police, especially in recent years,
for decades it worked to ensure that the perpetrators did not face justice
. "
In the court filing, Frosh argues that "publicly airing the Church's transgressions is critical to holding individuals and institutions accountable and improving the way sexual abuse allegations are handled in the future."
“More importantly, it is vital to protect children and the entire community,” the filing said.
The court filing also noted that of the 43 priests who have not been publicly identified or prosecuted, 30 have died.
"In the case of priests who have died, this additional interest in secrecy is less compelling."
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The attorney general's office redacted all identifying information for the 13 living church officials who have been accused of sexual abuse, but have not been listed as credibly accused by the archdiocese and have not been prosecuted.
In 2019, Frosh launched a criminal investigation into the sexual abuse of minors by priests and other employees of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Hundreds of thousands of documents dating back to the 1940s were filed in response to grand jury subpoenas.
As part of its investigation, the attorney general's office created an email address and hotline for people to report information.
More than 300 people contacted the office, and investigators interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses.
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