John Paul II's Convicted pedophile priest talks to investigators in LA probe

John Paul II's Convicted pedophile priest talks to investigators in federal probe of L.A. archdiocese

Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles whom we have exposed many times in the John Paul II Millstone www.jp2m.blogspot.com tried to cover up HUNDREDS of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests in Los Angeles. Now one of those priests is speaking up on how he informed Mahony of the reality of the JP2 Pedophile Priests Army 20 eyars ago. See also the General of the JP2Army Benedict XVI-God’s Rottweiler www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com. Slowly but surely, from his clones Mahony to Cardinal Law, the truth will be revealed that John Paul II and the Opus Dei knew and covered-up the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army for over 26 years! But the Opus Dei were too busy in their obsessions against the Jesuits and too occupied in silencing the Jesuits who work with the poor like John Sobrino in El Salvador and the Jesuits at the Vatican Observatory in Rome -- that they couldn't care less about these thousands of victims of the John Paul II Pedophile priests Army.


Convicted priest talks to investigators in federal probe of L.A. archdiocese
Grand jury, investigating if church officials committed fraud, talks to Michael Stephen Baker, who said he told church leaders 20 years ago that he sexually abused children.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-church-probe15-2009aug15,0,3086011.story


By Richard Winton

August 14, 2009 | 9:47 p.m.

A former Los Angeles priest convicted of molesting two boys has been called before a federal grand jury investigating how the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony handled priest abuse cases, a source told The Times.

Former priest Michael Stephen Baker said he informed Mahony two decades ago that he sexually abused children, but he was allowed to remain in the ministry and victimized others.

In 2007, Baker was sent to state prison for 10 years for molesting two boys. Although he continues to serve time in state prison, he is now in federal custody as a grand jury witness, said a source who requested anonymity because the case is ongoing.

The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles has launched a federal grand jury investigation into allegations of molestation by priests in the archdiocese, sources have told The Times. The probe is aimed at determining whether Mahony, and possibly other church leaders, committed fraud by failing to adequately deal with priests accused of sexually abusing children, sources said.

Mahony's attorney, J. Michael Hennigan, said the cardinal was not a target of the federal inquiry. Mahony has apologized repeatedly for the church's sex scandal, and said Baker's case is one of those that "troubles me the most."

Baker said he told Mahony in 1986 that he had molested young boys. "I told Mahony I had a problem," Baker said in a 2001 interview with The Times. Mahony allowed him to remain active in the archdiocese and did not alert police, law enforcement records show.

Instead, he sent Baker to a New Mexico treatment center and later assigned him to other parishes, where according to court records and interviews he victimized other boys.

In 2000, a lawyer for two brothers told the archdiocese that Baker molested them until 1999.

The archdiocese and Baker settled the matter out of court for $1.3 million, the boys' lawyer said. The cardinal acknowledged that he did not tell police of those allegations at the time.

In December 2007, Baker was convicted of molesting two boys in the 1990s, including one of the brothers. That same year, the archdiocese agreed to pay $660 million to people who accused priests of sexual abuse.


Former Long Beach priest testifying in probe of L.A. Archdiocese

By Gillian Flaccus, The Associated Press

Posted: 08/14/2009 12:29:41 PM PDT

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_13104469?source=rss
LOS ANGELES - A former Roman Catholic priest and ex-Long Beach resident imprisoned for sexually molesting children has been called to testify before a federal grand jury investigating how the Archdiocese of Los Angeles handled claims of abuse, a person with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Friday.
The person, who requested anonymity because the inquiry is ongoing, said former priest Michael Baker was transferred into federal custody at least three months ago and took the Fifth Amendment before the grand jury.

The person did not know if Baker was still in federal custody but said one other former priest was also involved in the inquiry.

Baker, 61, pleaded guilty in 2007 to molesting two boys and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Baker, once a priest at St. Lucy in Long Beach and St. Linus in Norwalk, has been accused of molesting nearly 20 children over more than two decades and is considered one of the archdiocese's worst pedophiles and thorniest problems for Cardinal Roger Mahony, who has previously acknowledged making mistakes in how he handled Baker.
Archdiocese attorney Michael Hennigan said in January that federal prosecutors told him Mahony is not a target of the investigation.Thom Mrozek, a U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman, declined to comment Friday.

Baker told Mahony in 1986 at a priests' retreat that he had molested two young boys from 1978 to 1985, according to church documents. Mahony did not notify police but sent Baker to a residential facility that treated priests for sexual abuse problems.

In the years that followed, Baker was assigned to nine parishes but barred from having one-on-one contact with minors. He violated those restrictions three times, according to church personnel file summaries released by the archdiocese.
Mahony removed Baker from the ministry in 2000 after two men filed a lawsuit alleging Baker sexually molested them between 1984 and 1999. The archdiocese settled the lawsuit for $1.25 million.

Baker was then charged in 2002 with 34 counts of molestation involving six victims, but those charges were dismissed a year later after the U.S. Supreme Court voided a California law that allowed the prosecution of cases involving acts that occurred before 1988.

In January 2006, the former priest was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport as he returned from a vacation in Thailand.

Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman, and Donald Steier, Baker's attorney, did not immediately return calls for comment Friday.

Vince Finaldi, a civil attorney, said he learned that Baker was participating in the federal inquiry when he sought to take the ex-priest's deposition in a pending sex abuse lawsuit against Baker and the archdiocese.

He said he couldn't locate Baker in the state prison system and was told by an official at the U.S. Marshal's Office that Baker was under the agency's protection as a material witness in the federal investigation.


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Source: Imprisoned priest called to testify to grand jury

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_13093235?source=rss

By Gillian Flaccus The Associated Press
Posted: 08/14/2009 03:06:25 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES - A former Roman Catholic priest imprisoned for sexually molesting children has been called to testify before a federal grand jury investigating how the Archdiocese of Los Angeles handled claims of abuse, a person with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Friday.

The person, who requested anonymity because the probe is ongoing, said former priest Michael Baker was transferred into federal custody at least three months ago and took the Fifth Amendment before the grand jury.

The person did not know if Baker was still in federal custody but said one other former priest was also involved in the probe.
Baker, 61, pleaded guilty in 2007 to molesting two boys and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Baker has been accused of molesting nearly 20 children over more than two decades and is considered one of the archdiocese's worst pedophiles and thorniest problems for Cardinal Roger Mahony, who has previously acknowledged making mistakes in how he handled Baker.

Archdiocese attorney Michael Hennigan said in January that federal prosecutors told him Mahony is not a target of the probe. Thom Mrozek, a U.S. attorney's office spokesman, declined to comment Friday.

Baker told Mahony in 1986 at a priests retreat that he had molested two young boys from 1978 to 1985, according to church documents. Mahony did not notify police but sent Baker to a residential facility that treated priests for sexual abuse problems.
In the years that followed, Baker was assigned to nine parishes but barred from having one-on-one contact with minors. He violated those restrictions three times, according to church personnel file summaries released by the archdiocese.
Mahony removed Baker from the ministry in 2000 after two men filed a lawsuit alleging Baker sexually molested them between 1984 and 1999. The archdiocese settled the lawsuit for $1.25 million.

Baker was then charged in 2002 with 34 counts of molestation involving six victims, but those charges were dismissed a year later after the U.S. Supreme Court voided a California law that allowed the prosecution of cases involving acts that occurred before 1988.

In January 2006, the former priest was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport as he returned from a vacation in Thailand.
Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman, and Donald Steier, Baker's attorney, did not immediately return calls for comment Friday.

Vince Finaldi, a civil attorney, said he learned that Baker was participating in the federal probe when he sought to take the ex-priest's deposition in a pending sex abuse lawsuit against Baker and the archdiocese.

He said he couldn't locate Baker in the state prison system and was told by an official at the U.S. Marshal's Office that Baker was under the agency's protection as a material witness in the federal investigation.

"I said, `Why are you guys holding this guy? He was charged and convicted in a state case. He's supposed to be in state prison,"' Finaldi recalled. "He said, `He's a material witness in a federal case."'

Finaldi said he was finally able to depose Baker at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on July 21.
It was unclear, however, whether Baker was still in federal custody.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons had no record of Baker in its online inmate locator. State prison officials did not return calls on Friday, a state furlough day because of budget cuts.

Finaldi said he believed Baker was being held at a state prison in San Bernardino County but was under the care and protection of federal marshals. A spokesman for the marshals did not immediately return a call.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office launched its own investigation into the archdiocese several years ago but hasn't filed any criminal charges.
Mahony handed over the confidential personnel files of Baker and another priest, George Miller, to local prosecutors after the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed arguments that the papers were protected materials.

The Los Angeles archdiocese paid a record-breaking $660 million in July 2007 to settle more than 500 claims of sexual abuse.