Sex Abuse and Trafficking

PA Priest Caught Photographing High School Wrestlers from Behind

PA priest Monsignor Thomas Derzack was dressed in plain clothes when he attended a wrestling tournament at Bethlehem Catholic High School late last December. That’s when, according to Bethlehem police and the Pennsylvania diocese, he was caught photographing the boys from behind. A police officer present at the event noticed Derzack’s behavior, confronted him, and had him delete the photos from his camera. He then left the school.

The Diocese has since removed Derzack, age 70, from his position in ...

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California Braces for New Catholic Sex Abuse Cases

new CA law extends church sex abuse statute of limitationsThe new year brought a new law to California’s books that extends the statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual assault and abuse to age 40 from its previous limit of 26. The law was spearheaded by Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s law follows a series of moves by municipalities across the country to give survivors more time to process and try to come to ...

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West Coast Woman Sues Hotel Chains Over Sex Trafficking Claims

Another woman has come forward alleging that multiple hotel chains knew that she was being trafficked for sex on their properties and, rather than intervening, chose to protect their profits and turn a blind eye instead.

According to CNN, the plaintiff, identified only by the initials A.B., has sued six hotel chains over ongoing abuses she endured while being trafficked between Washington and Oregon at the age of 22. The chains include Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc., Wyndham ...

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Uber: 3,000 Sexual Assaults During U.S. Rides Last Year

uber releases report on ride share sexual assaultsOn July 1, 2016, Twitter user Carol Nichols Goulding sent out a tweet destined for internet infamy. The soon-to-go-viral musing read “1998: Don’t get in strangers’ cars, don’t meet [people] from internet. 2016: Literally summon strangers from internet to get in their car.” It was a brilliant observation on how quickly the internet had gone from an environment of carefully protected anonymity and screen ...

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NYC Hotels Hit with $10 Million Sex Trafficking Lawsuit

The details of this story are particularly disturbing. As a result, and as a service to our readers, we are urging caution when reading.

Two hotel chains operating facilities in New York City have been hit with a $10 million lawsuit over allegations that not only was child sex trafficking and assault happening on their properties, but that they knew about it, did nothing to stop it, and – in some cases – participated.

As detailed by the ...

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Boy Scouts, Catholic Church Using Variety of Tactics to Lobby Against Abuse Statutes

Catholic Church lobbying legislators in sermons and bulletins on sex abuse billIn early 2000, an episode of The West Wing aired in which a lawyer – in an effort to influence the White House to commute his client’s death sentence – convinces a rabbi to deliver a sermon on capital punishment during that week’s services as a senior aid to the President is known to sit among the attendees. The President, a devout Catholic, would himself ...

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