The probe, in which U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien is personally involved, is aimed at determining whether Mahony, and possibly other church leaders, committed "honest services fraud" by failing to adequately deal with priests accused of sexually abusing children, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
In this case, the victims would be parishioners who relied on Mahony and other church leaders to keep their children safe from predatory priests, the source said. To convict on such a charge, prosecutors would have to prove that Mahony used the U.S. mail or some form of electronic communication in committing the alleged fraud, the source said.
O'Brien declined to comment, refusing to even confirm the existence of the investigation.
But Hennigan said he has been informed that Mahony is not a target of the inquiry.
"We have been and will continue to be fully cooperative with the investigation," Hennigan said.
As the Catholic Church's highest-ranking official in Southern California, Mahony was dogged for years by allegations of covering up the sexual misconduct of priests. The district attorney's office launched a grand jury investigation into the archdiocese several years ago, but no charges were filed. Two years ago, the archdiocese agreed to pay $660 million to 508 people who accused priests of sexual abuse. The payout was the largest settlement in a scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church nationwide.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said he had not heard about the investigation but welcomed the new scrutiny of Mahony.
"It is long, long overdue," Clohessy said. "It is just crucial that the hierarchy face criminal charges, because almost every other conceivable means have been tried to bring reform."
Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor and former federal prosecutor, said the theory that prosecutors are pursuing is one usually reserved for cases against corporate executives accused of wrongdoing.
In Mahony's case, she said, prosecutors would have the difficult task of defining the "honest services" expected from a Catholic cardinal. Then they would have to convince jurors that criminal charges were not a stretch.
Levenson compared the prosecution strategy of using a novel interpretation of an existing law to the one employed in the recent case against a Missouri woman accused of using MySpace to bully a 13-year-old who later committed suicide. Jurors in that case acquitted the woman of the most serious charges.
"I'd put it in the category of creative lawyering," Levenson said. "It doesn't mean it's bad. But it will be challenging to not only get charges on these grounds but, if they get charges, to win a conviction."
Share your thoughts on this article at the discussion board on L.A. Now. [3]
scott [dot] glover [at] latimes [dot] com
jack [dot] leonard [at] latimes [dot] com
" the slash and burn - take no prisoners - anything goes is so corrosive to our democracy and we've got to fight this because it turns people off politics in general and leaves that space to be occupied by special interests that determine how the goodies are to be passed out...." barack obama, nov. 23, 2004
tremont west development corporation board members should be randomly drug tested - because they make decisions with hundreds of thousands of dollars that should benifit the people - and attend public meetings-
tremont west development corporation board member david mehring, seem impaired when he wouldn't let me speak fully about an injustice and threaten to make me leave a public meeting - and yogi yoga bear my service k-9 partner, that also does biological, (drugs) explosive and search and resue - communicated to me that dave mehring was suspiously dangerous chemically imbalanced when he walked to us after the below stated incident-
SO JERLEEN SAYS IT AND THE SUN NEWS STORY-
ETERNAL THANKS, YOGI AND GUY
THE TALE OF TWO TREMONTS
Submitted by jerleen1 [13] on January 24, 2009 - 2:48pm.
The tale of two Tremonts continues - I received a call from Guy Templeton a bit ago - giving me a briefing on the Safety retreat at the Merrick House this morning and how he felt that not only was the meeting a wash but that Sammy was there with a video camera and that this time it was the story of TWO TOM CATS - WITH THEIR TAIL TIED TOGETHER - between Guy and Dave Mehring.
Now come on folks - Guy has lived in Tremont 65 years - he knows every street, alley and walkway like the back of his hand. He knows where all the old buildings used to be and what they looked like - he's been poor all his life - he has the documents, a lot of which are in his bio submitted to TWDC, to back up his works in the community. So, he's a bit colorful - he gets excited - he get's worked up - most people don't know that many years ago, while out on his "neighborhood watch" he and his dog Rusto saved a man's life in Thurman alley (the man had been shot and left) if I'm not mistaken there was a write up in the pd about it) - he isn't afraid to speak up for the poor - he's not afraid to get on the phone and dig up donations and get others to help.
I'm sad to see how a lot of people in this neighborhood treat an elderly gentleman just because he's different, or doesn't think the way everybody else does - you got to remember, he been there - all the new comers in this area will never be where Guy has been - or know the life Guy has known - where's your respect? As far as safety - if I was out there on the streets, and in trouble or my life was in jeopardy - I would only hope that Guy Templeton Black and Yogi Bear would be the two out there walking around.
Get it together, GUY IS A TRUE TREMONTER by all rights - if you don't like what he writes, don't read it - but give the man his dues -
You know that disability has no age limit, no gender, no color, doesn't care if your rich or poor - and drops in like a thief in the night - something all of us must consider.
Links:
[1] http://realneo.us/news/local/la-me-mahony29-2009jan29_jzjrbxnc,0,4823536,email.photo
[2] http://realneo.us/news/local/la-me-mahony-refer,0,6032912.storylink
[3] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/01/the-us-attorney.html
[4] http://www.mixx.com/submit/story?page_url=http%3A//www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mahony29-2009jan29%2C0%2C6232753.story&title=Cardinal%20Mahony%20under%20federal%20fraud%20investigation%20over%20abusive%20priests%2C%20sources%20say%20-%20Los%20Angeles%20Times&description=The%20U.S.%20attorney%20in%20L.A.%20reportedly%20launched%20a%20grand%20jury%20probe%20to%20determine%20if%20the%20prelate%20failed%20to%20adequately%20deal%20with%20such%20priests.%20An%20attorney%20for%20the%20archdiocese%20says%20he's%20been%20told%20Mahony%20is%20not%20the%20target%20of%20the%20inquiry.&partner=LAT
[5] http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=add&title=Cardinal Mahony under federal fraud investigation over abusive priests, sources say - Los Angeles Times&labels=&annotation=The%20U.S.%20attorney%20in%20L.A.%20reportedly%20launched%20a%20grand%20jury%20probe%20to%20determine%20if%20the%20prelate%20failed%20to%20adequately%20deal%20with%20such%20priests.%20An%20attorney%20for%20the%20archdiocese%20says%20he%27s%20been%20told%20Mahony%20is%20not%20the%20target%20of%20the%20inquiry.&bkmk=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mahony29-2009jan29,0,6232753.story
[6] http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mahony29-2009jan29,0,6232753.story&title=Cardinal%20Mahony%20under%20federal%20fraud%20investigation%20over%20abusive%20priests%2C%20sources%20say%20-%20Los%20Angeles%20Times&bodytext=The%20U.S.%20attorney%20in%20L.A.%20reportedly%20launched%20a%20grand%20jury%20probe%20to%20determine%20if%20the%20prelate%20failed%20to%20adequately%20deal%20with%20such%20priests.%20An%20attorney%20for%20the%20archdiocese%20says%20he%27s%20been%20told%20Mahony%20is%20not%20the%20target%20of%20the%20inquiry.
[7] http://del.icio.us/
[8] http://reddit.com/submit?url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mahony29-2009jan29,0,6232753.story&title=Cardinal Mahony under federal fraud investigation over abusive priests, sources say - Los Angeles Times
[9] http://www.facebook.com/
[10] http://myweb.search.yahoo.com/
[11] http://www.newsvine.com/
[12] http://realneo.us/GetThis%28%2526%2523039%3BCardinal%2520Mahony%2520under%2520federal%2520fraud%2520investigation%2520over%2520abusive%2520priests%252C%2520sources%2520say%2520-%2520Los%2520Angeles%2520Times
[13] http://realneo.us/users/jerleen1
[14] http://www.geocities.com/questministry
[15] http://www.wardogsmemorial.org/
[16] http://www.disclosureproject.com/