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To: Lane3 who wrote (3982)	3/21/2002 12:36:04 PM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

I'm delighted to see the Pope speak out, Karen. I do believe there will be skake-ups to come, including the exit of Cardinal Law around these parts. Among the ordinary Catholics that I know, they are viewing this with equanimity, that a serious problem has been recognized and will be dealt with earnestly. I believe most Catholics are more concerned about their standing with the home office than about turmoil within the local branches down here. They just wish, and trust, that justice will be done. Thanks, JC

To: Lane3 who wrote (3982)	3/22/2002 7:30:53 PM
From: Gordon A. Langston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

Here's a little story that came out of my neck of the woods. The All-American Boys Choir is head-quartered at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. Detective forwards case on priest to Boston Richard Coughlin, 78, was removed from the Orange County Diocese in 1993 after accusations of sexual abuse. March 22, 2002 By VALERIA GODINES The Orange County Register An Orange County police detective is forwarding to Boston authorities her case against a priest accused of sexually abusing several children locally, in hopes of getting Massachusetts law enforcement officials to prosecute him. Placentia Police Detective Corinne Loomis investigated Richard Coughlin, founder of the world-renowned All- 0American Boys Chorus, in the late 1990s, but the Orange County District Attorney's office declined to prosecute, in part because of statute of limitation concerns. Officials with district attorney offices in the Boston area have confirmed they have received Loomis' files and are reviewing them in the midst of a massive investigation into more than 80 priests in Massachusetts. Coughlin worked in the Boston area as a priest before being transferred to Orange County in 1965. He was accused of sexually abusing one boy there from 1958 to 1962. In 1993, he was removed from the Orange County Diocese following accusations of sexual abuse from choir members. In an interview this week, Coughlin denied the allegations of sexual abuse and said that the forwarding of his case to Boston is reopening wounds from a nightmare that he thought was long buried and past. The 78-year-old man lives in Yorba Linda and said he wants to be left alone. He says he is living a quiet life, giving private Mass daily in his home. "I am not really now wanting to be brought into this. It is a terrible trauma to me," Coughlin said. "It has trailed me. It is unfair to bring me into this. I have been convicted of nothing, and I have some kinds of rights in some way. "I think it is a terrible thing that the press is doing ... Do you want to destroy the Catholic Church?" Coughlin started the All-American Boys Chorus in 1970 and eventually turned the Costa Mesa-based organization into a world-class choir of 100 boys ranging in ages from 9 to 14. In the years that he ran the choir, he supervised as many as 500 boys. Loomis began investigating Coughlin in 1997 when an alleged victim approached her at the police department. She eventually presented six alleged victims to the county prosecutors. "This is my last-ditch attempt," said Loomis. "I had let it go until all of this came back with Boston, and it just really pains me. I don't have a lot of regrets in this job. I have never worked a case or been involved in a case where I really regret it. This is the only case where I feel that way." For many of the alleged victims, Loomis' interest was the first that any law enforcement official had demonstrated in their allegations. "I was like 'Wow. This is good that they are trying to pursue him.' Detective Loomis is a diligent prosecutor," said Matthew Roehl, 36, a public school teacher who lives in Apple Valley with his wife and 17-month-old son. Roehl, who was in the All-American Boys Chorus from 1977 to 1980, alleges that Coughlin abused him several times. "I have clear memories of him kissing me passionately, fondling me, putting his hand down my pants," said Roehl. Loomis, a veteran investigator who has worked an array of sex crimes, said the image of Coughlin's alleged victims - now professional, articulate men who broke down crying during the interviews - still haunts her. "It brought home to me the level of emotional and psychological trauma for them," she said. "It wrecked the lives of these then-children and then it was carried into their lifetime. I had them sit in the room with me and cry like babies for things that happened to them 20 to 30 years ago. Their legs were shaking. "What they were reporting had a tremendous impact in their abilities to form relationships and have trust in people in general and in the church in particular," she added. "They were so grateful that someone was taking the time to look at this and maybe hold him accountable." Loomis took her case to the Orange County District Attorney's Office in 2000 but the office declined to prosecute. The six-year statute of limitations had expired and the alleged sexual acts - fondling - did not meet the criteria allowed for an exception to the statute, such as rape or oral copulation. The detective is hoping that law-enforcement authorities in the Boston area can use her investigation to corroborate any cases connected to Coughlin there. Coughlin served as a priest in Stoneham and Lynn before being transferred to California. The statute of limitations differs slightly in Massachusetts: once a suspect leaves the jurisdiction where the alleged crime occurred, time essentially stops ticking, said Emily LaGrassa, spokeswoman with the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office. "The satisfaction from this job comes from putting someone in jail, but it also comes in tangibly going back and restoring somebody who was a victim," Loomis said. "The laws we live by are arbitrary ... sometimes you have to remind yourself there are bigger sets of laws." Another interesting local story has a teacher let go from a local school because he had the habit of being in locked rooms with students. Lots of rumours but no charges so the school district let him go but gave him a "glowing recommendation". Now, a year later, he has been convicted of child molesting at his new school and the parents of the victims are threatening to sue his old employers. I know one of the School Board members and she is Catholic and deeply disturbed.