Boston Sexual Abuse Lawyer Blog

Survivors Voice Inc, a non profit foundation founded by Massachusetts clergy abuse survivors Bernie McDaid & Gary Bergeron to help survivors of clergy sexual abuse, have started a global petition and are calling on the United Nations to define the childhood sexual abuse of children as "Crimes against humanity".

Bergeron issued a statement, in which he stated: "The one natural resource that is equally shared in each and every country in every part of the world is the one natural resource that continues to be unprotected ignored by all. It is the natural innocence of a child. If the success of the future of our race as human beings is based on the protection of our children, then the continued acceptance of the status quo of the sexual abuse of children is nothing less than crimes against humanity and should be labeled as such. We are calling on the United Nations to redefine the systemic sexual abuse of children which continues to be revealed around the world to be included in the context of 'Crimes against humanity'.

Survivors Voice Inc, has invited survivors of childhood sexual abuse, their supporter and support groups from around the globe to join together on October 31 at the Vatican in Rome for a 'Reformation Day' event where they will begin the world wide petition. This event will mark the second time the pair has traveled to the Vatican to address the continuing issue of clergy sexual abuse.

"We currently have survivors and supporters traveling from countries around the world to the Vatican to attend this event. This is the first time that the global problem of childhood sexual abuse, has been addressed on a collective global level. On Reformation Day, we are asking people around the world to reform the way the address the issue of childhood sexual abuse and by the responses we've been receiving, the world may finally be ready to act," said a statement from Bernie McDaid.

The accused Haverhill man who became the face of the MBTA's efforts to nab miscreants on Twitter has been arrested again Thursday by T cops, reports the Boston Herald. Lawrence Maguire, 59, is a former bank robber with a long rap sheet who served federal time for holding up a Medford bank in 2001 with his son, authorities said.

A judge revoked Lawrence F. Maguire's bail on his Aug. 6 arrest for open and gross lewdness after he was arrested on the same charge last week at Hynes Convention Center station, right after leaving a court hearing on the initial charge.

Federal court records show Maguire, 59, was freed from prison in May 2005 after doing time for robbing a Citizens Bank inside a Shaw's Supermarket on Sept. 7, 2001, with his son. Maguire's criminal history also includes separate convictions in federal and state court for armed robbery and robbery dating back to 1979, prosecutors said.

Maguire was first arrested on the T in August after a commuter sent out a tweet and photo of a man touching himself inappropriately on a crowded Red Line train during rush hour, the Herald reported. The bust prompted transit cops to launch a Twitter site where riders can submit tips.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury on Friday convicted Torrey Browne, 34, of raping a woman on his boat at the Dorchester Yacht Club after she told him she didn't want a romantic relationship with him, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reported to the Dorchester Reporter.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Regina Quinlan ordered Browne, a South Boston computer consultant out on bail during the trial, taken into custody immediately, pending his sentencing on Nov. 17. He faces up to 20 years in state prison.

According to Assistant District Attorney Michelle Kalowski, Browne asked the woman, whom he knew through work, if he'd like to see the boat he'd just bought. She agreed. The two met one night at the yacht club on Sept. 30, 2008.

After giving her a tour of the yacht club, he told her he had romantic feelings for her, but she replied she only wanted to be friends, Kalowski told the jury.

Because it was late, he managed to convince her to spend the night on the boat - and then he left, Kalowski said. But she woke the next morning with him lying on top of her, Kalowski said. When she asked what he was doing, he hushed her, then held her down, the assistant DA said. The woman began to struggle, even bit him in the arm, but he would not let her go and then he raped her, she said.

The woman left, and called her roommate for help. They drove to a local hospital to undergo a post-rape exam and test. The DNA evidence helped convict Browne.

A convicted sex offender wanted in Massachusetts has been captured by US marshals in South Carolina, according to the Boston Globe. Shawn Downer, 38, of West Yarmouth, was apprehended last week at the South Carolina State Fair in Columbia, the US Marshals Service reported.

Downer, who works for a New York-based food vendor that travels to state and local fairs around the country, has been wanted by Yarmouth police since September 2009 on charges of failing to register as a sex offender, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe and US Marshals told reporters. Downer is awaiting transport to Massachusetts.

A renowned former New York City youth basketball coach has been indicted on charges he sexually assaulted a player during a team trip to Western Massachusetts between March 1977 and April 1978. Ernest Lorch was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on charges of attempted rape and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, according to comments made by Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Jane Mulqueen to the Associated Press.

Lorch, who is in his late 70s, is accused of abusing the player, then 17, during a trip to the University of Massachusetts Amherst for a basketball tournament, Mulqueen said. Lorch founded and coached the Riverside Church basketball program in Manhattan, whose alumni include dozens of National Basketball Association players.

The Boston Globe did a nice job with a front-page article about a violent teenage prostitution ring in Boston.

Next month, one of the perpetrators is scheduled to be sentenced in US District Court in Boston for his role in the abuse. Another perp is already serving a 25-year prison sentence. They were convicted last November on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to take women across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. Seven young women testified during their trial.

Four other men pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, avoiding trial and receiving sentences of 48 to 60 months.

Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian is crying foul after the Archdiocesan Review Board cleared a Weymouth priest, Cambridge native Rev. Charles J. Murphy, whose last assignment was at St. Francis Xavier Church in Weymouth, of sexual abuse. Murphy had been accused of abusing a teenage boy while assigned to St. Agatha's Church in Milton during the early 1970s.

According to the Patriot Ledger, in April, the Rev. Murphy voluntarily stepped down from public ministry during the investigation.

The decision to clear him of the accusations was made by the Archdiocesan Review Board, an interfaith advisory board that includes victims of clergy sex abuse, parents and a judge. It makes recommendations to Cardinal Sean O'Malley.

Garabedian called the review board a "kangaroo court" that is biased in favor of the archdiocese. Garabedian said his client was interviewed by archdiocesan investigators but never questioned by the board. Garabedian was also the lawyer for a former Rockland woman who alleged that Murphy molested her when she was a girl and the priest was director of counseling at the Boston School for the Deaf in Randolph.