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.
If the priest is not a pedophile, then he was wrongly dismissed from the church, and being a lawyer - should be getting really rich off the slander put on him by Tollner.
Is he filing suit against Tollner? (not in this lifetime)
This “priest should be shunned, and all those who do not shun him - should be shunned as well.
#####
SPOT ON!
Nevertheless, there was no conviction. All I said was aren't we supposed to consider someone innocent until proven guilty? I've not seen one shred of evidence used by the grand jury or the church, so why should I jump to the conclusion that the man was guilty?
And O.J. is innocent too.
There was plenty of evidence against OJ and it was made public. From that evidence, we know he was guilty, and I have no problem saying so. Show me the evidence against this man, or I can't call him guilty. I'm sure you'd want the same benefit of the doubt if you were indicted but not convicted.
It is the judicial system that cannot consider someone guilty until they are convicted.
That doesn’t apply to me.
That man is damn guilty. And I will spread that around any chance I get.
See my tagline.
update my tagline.
This kind of thing is just the beginning, Yikes.
Don't worry, if Rudy had not stood up for a friend some would say.."Look Rudy did not even stand up for a friend, if a friend can't trust him who can ?"
Well, Bernie better not count on his good buddy.
If the GOP has any clue at all, pushing Rudy in this election is a terrible mistake.
It will most certainly usher in Hillary.
Running Guiliani in this election will mean doom for the GOP.
Makes me wonder if that is what they want.
Sorry but I strongly disagree, what will cause doom for the Republican Party is the constant infighting among the Republicans. The only way to win against Hillary (and that is a great possibility) is to stand behind and crawl over broken glass to elect the Republican nominee for President. That means whoever the Party chooses for it's nominee.
You go ahead and disagree, if the nominee is Rudy, be prepared for Hillary, that is what will happen.
If you don’t want infighting, get rid of Rudy. The alternative is Hillary. You cannot force people to vote, nor can you count on people to turn out for a candidate they despise. Especially when they know they would have voted for a good conservatve candidate. Fear of Hillary isn’t going to do it. Presenting a good candidate will.
Face it. There is no way Rudy will win this election, no way. His presence in this race will doom the GOP for many years to come.
I’ll vote for the Republican candidate, as long as they have a record of acting like one.
Giuliani has already disqualified himself.
Only if you stay at home or vote some third party.
What is the evidence that he is guilty? If you don't have evidence, then you are simply being a gossip, and I'm sure you know that is a sin. (But then, maybe you don't care.)
I’m not wasting any more time with you.
Go watch the video at the ABC link.
In other words, you don't care about the evidence - you've decided this guy is guilty and will spread gossip about him.
Your choice.
Have a nice day.
The scandal is the agenda of continually demonizing the Church. The allegations are mute because of the limitation statute, as are most cases involving priests.
That money grubbing lawyers along with homosexual activists can make accusations going back 30 years, is not right.
Rudy's absolutely right and IMO, Priest F is probably a fine dedicated man being persecuted, as are so many others.
Possibly true; nonetheless I think it is ironic that Guilianni is involved with allegations of pedophilia within the church when he is such a lax Catholic that he supports abortion.
bump to the top
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