Posted on 10/23/2007 9:27:58 AM PDT by BGHater
Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani hired a Catholic priest to work in his consulting firm months after the priest was accused of sexually molesting two former students and an altar boy and told by the church to stop performing his priestly duties.
The priest, Monsignor Alan Placa, a longtime friend of Giuliani and the priest who officiated at his second wedding to Donna Hanover, continues to work at Giuliani Partners in New York, to the outrage of some of his accusers and victims' groups, which have begun to protest at Giuliani campaign events.
"This man did unjust things, and he's being protected and employed and taken care of. It's not a good thing," said one of the accusers, Richard Tollner, who says Placa molested him repeatedly when he was a student at a Long Island, N.Y. Catholic boys high school in 1975.
At a campaign appearance in Milwaukee last week, Giuliani continued to defend Placa, who he described to reporters as a close friend for 39 years.
"I know the man; I know who he is, so I support him," Giuliani said. "We give some of the worst people in our society the presumption of innocence and benefit of the doubt," he said. "And, of course, I'm going to give that to one of my closest friends."
The accusations against Placa were made in testimony before a Suffolk County grand jury in 2002.
Tollner, now a mortgage broker in Albany, N.Y., says he was one of three people to testify about Placa.
"This man harmed children. He still could do it. He deserves to be shown for what he was, or is," says Tollner.
Appearing publicly for the first time today on ABC News' "Good Morning America," Tollner says the abuse started when he and Placa were in the high school making posters for a Right to Life march.
"As he started to explain how these posters should be done, I realized that something was rubbing my body," Tollner said. "After a minute or two, I realized that he's feeling me, feeling me in my genital area."
The grand jury report concluded that a Priest F, who Tollner says is Placa, abused the boys sexually "again and again and again."
"Priest F was cautious, but relentless in his pursuit of victims. He fondled boys over their clothes, usually in his office," the report said.
The report concluded that Priest F, and several other priests under investigation from the same Long Island, N.Y. diocese, could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.
Several former students from the same high school say they were asked by the "Giuliani organization" to contact ABC News and vouch for Placa.
"There was absolutely not a hint of rumor of a speculation or a whisper, in four years, or in decades after of any sexual predatoriness on the part of Rev. Placa," wrote Matthew Hogan in an e-mail to ABCNews.com.
Hogan says he recalls that Placa did give "special attention" to his former schoolmate Richard Tollner and remembers seeing Tollner in Placa's office "laughing, on opposite sides of a desk with Mr. Tollner happily animated sitting up on the couch talking."
But Hogan says the school area where Tollner says he was molested "was CONSTANTLY trafficked even on off days and hours."
"I will gladly help take apart in public anything that seriously overlooks the above. I'll be watching The Blotter like a hawk," Hogan wrote.
In addition to the allegations that Priest F was personally involved in the sexual abuse, the grand jury also said that Priest F became instrumental in a church policy that used "deception and intimidation" to keep the church scandal quiet.
Placa served as a lawyer for the diocese in dealing with allegations of abuse against other priests and, according to the grand jury report, claimed he had saved the church hundreds of thousands of dollars in his handling of possible litigation.
Lawyers for alleged victims say Placa would often conduct interviews, in his priest garb, without making it clear he was the church lawyer.
"He was a wolf in sheep's clothing," said Melanie Little, a lawyer for several alleged victims of sexual abuse by other priests in the diocese.
"He was more concerned with protecting the priests, protecting the reputation of the diocese and protecting the church coffers than he was protecting the children," said Little.
Since going to work for Giuliani Partners, the former mayor and the priest have continued to be close.
Placa accompanied Giuliani and his wife Judith on a trip to Rome earlier this year.
Through a spokeswoman at Giuliani Partners, Sunny Mindel, Placa declined requests to comment on the allegations to ABCNews.com.
Mindel also declined to specify what Placa does for the firm or how much he is paid.
"Mr. Giuliani can do what he wants with his money, but he has to pay the price for people like myself who disagree with employing known child molesters," Tollner said.
While no longer allowed to perform priestly duties or appear in public as a priest, Placa continues to maintain a residence at a church rectory in Great Neck on New York's Long Island.
According to New York property records, Placa also co-owns, with another priest, a waterfront apartment in lower Manhattan in Battery Park City, valued at more than $500,000.
I can't tell you the date I decided that Bill Clinton was guilty - can you give me the date you decided he was guilty? I can tell you the evidence against him is quite public, so we know he was guilty. As you have said, the evidence that you claim exists against this former priest is not public. (Which of course begs the question, how do you know he is guilty?)
You are still comparing apples and oranges.
Oh, you mean that the Vatican IS NOT IMPRESSED BY THE RICH AND FAMOUS???? Can you explain to me Frank Sinatra’s annulment or Princess Caroline’s? The same with Giuliani . . .
You’re right! Damned Papists, always fawning over celebrities...
You said that, not me - is that your true thinking???? Can you explain to me how Joseph Kennedy Jr. was first allowed to annul his marriage (the Vatican later reversed itself). obviously, somebody was impressed by the Kennedy name. Please don’t be disingenuous: obviously, Rudy and Placa used connections to get him is annulment - and notice that Regina has been silent. I see you are a big Rudy supporter!
Yes, they are even defending his lame “annulment” which should never have been granted. They are really shameless.
As your FRIEND TED KENNEDY SAID, “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”
Oh my!
My son has gone to Catholic school his entire life so I am no Catholic basher! However, I do think that connections and celebrity helped people such as Frank Sinatra and Princess Caroline - and yes, Rudy - gain annulments on the most specious grounds imaginable. In the Brooklyn/Queens diocese, years ago they were being handed out for trivial reasons. And yes, I think Rudy got his on a “technicality” which I am told, offended his first wife who has kept quiet about it. In a way, his treatment of his first wife is worse than what he did to the second one. I don’t trust Placa.
I agree that it ought not be a trivial matter, but the number of people who are given them (especially under such shady circumstances as Rudy's) makes it appear as though the Church doesn't always view annulment with the regard it should.
Thank you - that was the point I was trying to make.
“’It doesn’t sound like the church has reached a determination in this priest’s case yet...’
“Not even remotely accurate, as the article itself makes plain. Evidently the church diocese itself investigated the claims and found them credible enough to warrant the following actions:
“’While no longer allowed to perform priestly duties or appear in public as a priest [...] and told by the church to stop performing his priestly duties.’”
I don’t know.
I think the current Church policy is to suspend priests from publicly functioning as priests after a credible allegation of abuse has been made. That’s BEFORE the Church determines whether or not the charge is true.
If the charge is sustained, then, if I recall correctly, the current process is to begin laicization. That's a permanent dismissal from the clerical state. I didn’t see any evidence that this priest is being laicized.
If the charge is dismissed, then the priest may return to active ministry.
But where a charge is neither sustained nor dismissed, priests can linger in this ecclesiastical limbo for a very long time.
The fact that there are only a few victims coming forth from the 1970s, and none after, suggests that it’s possible that these charges might not be true.
sitetest
This does it for me. I can’t handle it. You don’t have multiples of grown men come out and say this, along with women from the parishes involved confirming it and still say ok, he never went to trial, poof, he’s innocent. Also unbeleivable that some crimes have an expiration date.
Whatever. Any presidential candidate that is this close to some unreformable pervert won’t get my vote, and I’ll be sure to let all my friends who are liking RG know about it. One too many nicks on this guy
I’m going by memory here (and I don’t get much sleep due to baby)...the guy said he was a young child working on pro-life posters, getting ready for a pro-life march when he felt something rubbing his body.
It was the priest.
I don’t recall how far this particular episode went, or if he was molested again after that.
But I do remember it was on GMA.
The grand jury report concluded that a Priest F, who Tollner says is Placa, abused the boys sexually “again and again and again.”
These guys came forward in 2002. Not one, three.
And still Rudy had this perv preform his wedding ceremony?
Rudy is filth.
Read the article.
The grand jury said he was guilty.
Rudy is worse than Hillary. At least she would have the brains to throw him under the bus.
Loyalty is only good if it is loyalty to a good person.
Article said the statute of limitations had expired.
But that is not a conviction. There is a saying that even a ham sandwich can be indicted. There have been many people who were indicted for something but never convicted.
Uh-huh. There was no conviction because the statue of limitations had run out.
And O.J. is innocent too.
S/
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