Child sex-abuse victims are calling on the New York Attorney General’s office to release the Catholic Church’s “secret files” on predatory priests, The Post has learned.
On the heels of a bombshell Pennsylvania report on child-sex abuse by Catholic clergy, former New York AG Barbara Underwood launched a sweeping probe in September 2018.
Underwood subpoenaed all eight Catholic dioceses in New York state to explore whether churches “potentially covered up allegations of extensive sexual abuse of minors,” the office stated.
Last week, Manhattan-based Marsh Law Firm sent a letter to current AG Letitia James urging her office to release the “secret files.”
“Survivors have fought for the right to seek justice for decades, and deserve access to these files as soon as possible,” attorney Jennifer Freeman wrote to James.
The files would reveal how the Archdiocese handled complaints, who witnessed the abuse, and whether accused clergy were simply removed or transferred, Freeman said.
James would not comment on the request or the ongoing investigation.
Since it launched the probe 11 months ago, the office has fielded 682 complaints of child sex-abuse by Catholic clergy, her office told The Post.
That’s not the tally of alleged victims, because some individuals complained about more than one clergyman, the office said.
Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the New York Archdiocese, said it has released the names of all priests and other clergy who “had a credible and substantiated allegation of abuse,” and all those with claims brought against them through its own compensation program.
It has also turned over all files to the state AG well as 10 District Attorneys, Zwilling said.
Under the new Child Victims Act, claimants — no matter what their age –have one year to sue their alleged abusers starting on August 14.
A legal avalanche is expected, with most accusers now in their 50s, 60s and 70s.
Marsh Law Firm alone represents 515 alleged victims, including 167 accusing the Catholic Church, Freeman said.
Another 202 clients accuse prolific pedophile Reginald Archibald — the late pediatrician at Rockefeller University and a “pool doctor” at the Madison Square Boys Club — of abuse as children.
The rest include alleged victims of Boy Scout troops, public and private schools, foster care agencies, and other religious institutions
Another lawyer, Jeff Herman, said he has 200 alleged victims, including more than 100 against the Catholic Church. He has requested the AG’s trove of files under the Freedom of Information Law.
“If we don’t get them that way, I will issue subpoenas to all the dioceses to force them to produce these files,” Herman said.
Attorney Darren Epstein said he and partner Kevin Mulhearn will file suit against Yeshiva University for more than 40 ex-students of its high school who allege they suffered sexual abuse as boys.
Their prior $680 million federal lawsuit was dismissed in 2014 because the old statute of limitations has expired.
They also represent Mark Taylor, 52, who charges that Irwin B. Goldberg, a former teacher and dean at Adlai Stevenson HS in The Bronx, forced him into oral and anal sex starting when he was 15.
His evidence is strong. A sting conducted in 2000 by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools caught Goldberg on videotape referencing a prior sex act with Taylor and pulling out his penis in a school corridor in an effort to seduce him.
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