Resource Center

   Tempe police have spent the past 6 months investigating 48-year-old Mario Rodriguez-Ramirez, a man who was once a pastor. Police said the  sexual abuse began in 2015, when the little girl was just 9 years old and he was the pastor of her Church.  Rodriguez-Ramirez took the victim and two other children to Kiwanis Park in Tempe, where he allegedly hugged and kissed the girl inappropriately  when she reached the ground after going down the slide, police say. The second alleged assault happened behind a Home Depot in Tempe. The girl told police that Pastor Rodriguez-Ramirez took her with […]

I Was Sexually Abused by My High School Coach. Forty Years Later, I’m Taking Action In a civil lawsuit, a champion runner alleges exploitation at the hands of an adult she trusted. She details how the abuse changed the course of her life in an exclusive to Runner’s World.   BY MARISA SUTERA STRANGE JAN 19, 2021 I am an elite masters runner, specializing in the mile, 5K, and cross country. I’m 57 years old now, and running has been my salvation for decades. My high school coach abused me more than 40 years ago, and I’m still coming to terms with what […]

    Brian David Trostel, a teacher at Sherwood High School, has been charged with  29 charges of  sexual abuse of a child, according to court documents. Trostel, age 60,  lived in Portland and taught at Sherwood High. He turned himself in to Portland Police Bureau officers last week amid accusations of child sex abuse of a student.  The charges include; eight counts each of first- and second-degree, encouraging child sexual abuse, three counts of invasion of personal privacy in the second degree, two counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, and eight counts of […]

    Two new lawsuits have been filed against the Archdiocese of New York and St. Mary’s by adult survivors of child sex abuse under the Child Victims Act which allows adult survivors of childhood abuse to file claims against their abusers.. Both victims claim to have been abused by  Father William Lombardy and Father Raymond Foster. Both plaintiffs claim to have had similar abuse experiences. The suit claims that  Archdiocese and St. Mary’s were both allegedly aware of numerous clerics, priests and Church employees sexually abusing children, but their leader allegedly covered up and remained silent. Father Raymond Foster and Father William […]

    The leader of St. Sabina Church, Father Michael Pfleger, was an anti-violence activist, has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor dating back more than 4 decades. He has been removed from his post.  A statement was issued this week Cardinal Blase Cupich , saying he asked Father Michael Pfleger to leave his role during the investigation by the Archdiocese of Chicago. The allegation of abuse is over 40 years old and was recently  reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. The alleged victim haws been offered […]

    Fairbridge Restored Limited, a former Christian group often described as a “cult” has become  the only institution that has not  joined the National Redress Scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite having a combined 77 claims  of child sex abuse against them. Kenja Communication, Fairbridge Restored Limited, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, will no longer be eligible for government grants and could possibly lose their charitable status for tax purposes after deciding not to sign on to the scheme by the end of 2020, which denied victims recourse to compensation. The scheme offers counseling and support  in addition to […]

  Republican and Democratic state legislatures are trying to revise North Dakota’s statute of limitation laws  to open up new windows of time for survivors of child sex abuse to file civil lawsuits against their perpetrators in courts. North Dakota Attorney General, Wayne Stenehjem, began planning when he filed a report this week regarding the current statute of limitation laws, regarding  the issue of filing criminal charges against any of the 53 priests named in the Fargo and Bismarck dioceses lists of priests who had serious allegations of child sex abuse. The alleged abuse occurred between  1950s to the 1980s, […]

    Rev. Michael Tierney, a priest from the Kansas City-area, also  one of the named priests on the list of clergy credibly accused of sexually abusing minors, has passed away at age 76.  The Rev. Michael Tierney died on Dec. 15, 2020.  Tierney had been named in several  civil lawsuits that accused him of sexual abuse of minors. The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph removed him from all pastoral assignments back in 2011, however,  he was never prosecuted. The list of credibly accused priests recognizes canonical trial as “decreed guilt in multiple cases.”   Tierney was ordained in […]

    Arizona lawmakers extended the Child Victims Act last year,  which allowed a one year window on the  statute of limitations for adults who were sexually abused as children to come forward to file a civil suit. Unfortunately, that window is now due to expire as of today, Dec. 30, 2020. In Arizona, child sex abuse survivors now have less than three days to file a claim against their abuser or the institutions that gave the predators access to children. Senate Minority Leader David Bradley, also a licensed professional counselor for 40 years, had this to say:  “I’ve been […]

    The Diocese of Brooklyn is represented by an insurance company that claims it should not be responsible for any payments to the victims who were sexually abused by the Diocese’s priests.  The  federal lawsuit  was filed this week and the insurance company, Arrowood Indemnity Company, has asked  the court to rule that it should not be obligated to indemnify the Diocese or defend them. In their statement they say: “allegations of the Diocese’s long-standing specific knowledge of individual instances of  abuse and its decades-long culture of coverup.” Arrowood Indemnity Company alleges that the Diocese did not provide copies […]