Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph charged with failing to report suspected child sexual abuse
A Jackson County grand jury has indicted Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph for allegedly failing to report suspected child sexual abuse in the Rev. Shawn Ratigan child-pornography case.
The indictment — issued October 6 — was unsealed today. The actual charges are listed as a misdemeanor count of failure of mandated reporter to report. So Finn and the diocese are accused of failing to act as mandatory reporters.
The indictment alleges that between December 16, 2010, and May 11, 2011, Finn and the diocese had reasonable cause to suspect that a child may have been the victim of abuse “due to previous knowledge of concerns regarding Father Ratigan and children; the discovery of hundreds of photographs of children on Father Ratigan’s laptop, including a child’s naked vagina, upskirt images and other images focused on the crotch; and violations of restrictions placed on Father Ratigan.”
