Priest abuse files: Victims say documents are incomplete

LOS ANGELES -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is releasing more than 10,000 additional pages of internal documents related to clergy abuse. But victims say those documents are incomplete and don't comply with a court order. They say the Archdiocese is still hiding names of those involved in child abuse.

Virginia Zamora is angry and disappointed. She says her son, Dominic, was abused by the Rev. Michael Baker. Last week, a judge ordered the Archdiocese to release confidential files on priests accused of molesting children.

"I was just surprised. What are they hiding? A lot of the pages were left blank," said Zamora.

According to the victims' attorneys, the documents are supposed to show the names of anyone who knew about the abuse and those who allegedly covered it up. But SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say a number of names are still not there.

"We believe that this intentionally defies the judge's order that demanded that church leaders who covered up abuse be exposed and that victim's be protected," said Joelle Casteix with SNAP.

The group held a news conference in front of the federal court, asking for a grand jury investigation.

"These particular redactions are very cold and calculated. They're cold and calculated because...they're showing that they're contemplating the civil and criminal statute of limitations," said Patrick Wall, a victim's investigator.

The attorney for the Archdiocese said in a statement: "We have attempted to redact the documents exactly according to the court's order and if we've made any mistakes we invite people to point them out so we can correct them."

Meantime, the Los Angeles Police Department is also looking at the released documents to see if the Archdiocese committed any crimes by not reporting cases of child abuse.

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child abuse, sex crimes, los angeles news, carlos granda

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