US Attorney ignores pedophile taking child across state lines, plus fraud, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy in Scranton

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July 11, update: Slammed at work, will not be able to write and put together the rest of this story until early next week. Have to do the paid job first....

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By Kay Ebeling

PREVIEW: Since starting his blog Off My Knees last fall, Michael Baumann, adult victim of a pedophile Catholic priest, has found dozens more victims of similar crimes from the same diocese. He's uncovered signs of conspiratorial aiding and abetting concerning perpetrator Father Robert Gibson and the Bishop of Scranton. Among other things, Baumann wrote the letter copied below to the the the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania May 19th. He's yet to get a reply of any kind.

Baumann reports to the U.S. Attorney that Gibson, used to take children across state lines. Baumann points out lies the Diocese of Scranton continues to tell Catholics in its parishes about pedophile priests, while sequestering them away from prosecution. Fraud, collusion and conspiracy in the Diocese of Scranton, and the U.S. Attorney does not reply. Here is the letter Baumann sent: Story to come this weekend.

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12 May 2009 from: Michael Baumann, Chesapeake, VA, to:

United States Attorney
Middle District of Pennsylvania
William J. Nealon Federal Building and Courthouse235 N. Washington Ave., Suite 311Scranton, PA 18503

Sir,

In 1974, at the age of 13, I was raped repeatedly over a period of approximately nine months by a priest assigned to the Diocese of Scranton. His name is Robert J.Gibson. The rapes and abuse were committed in the rectory of Our Lady, Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, a hotel in Orlando, Florida and a hotel in New York City as well as other locations. I know that I am not his only victim.

The Diocese of Scranton also knows that I am not his only victim. In 1998 they removed this man from the jurisdiction where he committed offenses against young boys and placed him in a church run facility in Missouri. At the time of his removal from ministry the Diocese had complaints against this priest and had not taken any action to report him to civil authority. He has been kept in comfort and away from any potential civil or criminal consequence in church run facilities outside of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1998.

The Diocese of Scranton has had more than 16 publicly identified priests, and at least 10 others who have had their identities protected by the Bishops of the Diocese, accused of sexual crimes, misconduct or abuse in the last 50 years. In almost all cases they have covered up the crimes and moved the offending priests to other assignments or moved them outside of the reach of authorities that could have prosecuted them. They have shown a reckless disregard for the citizens in the geographic area covered by the Diocese and, in particular, the parishioners of parishes where these men were assigned.

The Bishops of Scranton have conspired with other church officials to keep these activities quiet and away from the attention of civil authorities to avoid prosecution of those who had been accused of committing acts from indecent exposure to statutory rape of young children. Having knowledge of such acts, the Diocese of Scranton has not made proper notification to law enforcement when a credible accusation has been made against a priest.

In my case, notifications were only made to law enforcement in accordance with Diocesan policy after I wrote directly to the Bishop to point out his failure to do so. They have failed, in almost all cases, to notify parishioners about the activities of these perpetrator priests (by name), willfully and recklessly placing children and vulnerable adults at risk as a result of their practice of hiding pedophile and sexually predatory priests.

They continued to defraud parishioners in the Diocese of Scranton by collecting money in the form of offerings and donations to individual parishes and to the Diocese of Scranton directly while diverting funds from legitimate church uses to pay the expenses of shielding criminal priests from prosecution. Funds, donated in good faith by the laity, are used to bankroll the ongoing criminal conspiracy that includes the obstruction of justice, paying off witnesses to these criminal acts and covering up the crimes through intimidation of victims. I am sure that the parishioners of the Diocese of Scranton would not support the use of their hard earned money to willingly support a criminal enterprise run from the Chancery in Scranton.

Additionally, they are potentially defrauding insurance carriers by using health insurance claims to pay the expenses of the priests they have kept sequestered to avoid prosecution or civil action.

I respectfully request that your office conduct a formal investigation into the Diocese of Scranton’s activities to hide sexual predators, obstruct justice and defraud parishioners in order to conceal the criminal activities of its priests and employees. I am seeking this investigation at the U.S. Attorney level because crimes committed included activities where children were taken across recognized state borders for the purpose of committing criminal activity as well actions by the Diocese to remove a priest accused of criminal activity from the jurisdiction where he could face trial.

Additionally, funds are being transferred across state lines to pay for the expenses of the acts of obstruction. The Diocese of Scranton thinks it is above the law and has recklessly continues to put parishioners at risk.

I can be reached at the address above or by phone at (757) --- ----. My email address is (REDACTED)

Documentation of my particular circumstances and acknowledgement from the Diocese of Scranton that I have filed a credible allegation against Robert J. Gibson will be made available upon your request or can be found at my blog, Off My Knees (http://michaelbaumann.wordpress.com/).


Very respectfully,
Michael B. Baumann

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In the story about Off My Knees this weekend, we'll talk about a vision Michael and I both have, of a time when there will be blogger / survivor in every major city keeping tabs on every major diocese. When a story breaks, or when a new case is filed, a new perpetrator uncovered, a survivor blogger would be there, to track down and post documents, interview persons involved, and post links to local news stories.

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We were going to run a post about the blog Off My Knees by Michael Baumann here today, but my “real” job got too busy, so I have to put off doing the whole story until the weekend. Instead we are running this "preview of coming attractions."
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More this weekend.

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Don't forget to click the PayPal donate button to help fund trips to Fresno, Santa Barbara, and other cities in pursuit of the truth about sex crime coverups in the Catholic Church.
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