As a result of a four-year investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church’s Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown released a report that details allegations of misconduct on the part of 156 clergy members and others associated with the church, as well as a systemic cover-up of the widespread abuse.
The Attorney General’s Office released the report titled “Attorney General’s Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore” on April 5, 2023. The report alleges decades of child sexual abuse carried out on victims in Baltimore and nine central and western Maryland counties. It also alleges that church leaders made active efforts to conceal the abuse and protect priests and other abusers from facing consequences for their actions.
“This report illustrates the depraved, systemic failure of the Archdiocese to protect the most vulnerable – the children it was charged to keep safe,” Attorney General Brown said in a press release. “Based on hundreds of thousands of documents and untold stories from hundreds of survivors, it provides, for the first time in the history of this State, a public accounting of more than 60 years of abuse and cover-up.”
The Attorney General’s Office began its investigation into child abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2018. A grand jury subpoena of the archdiocese and individual parishes produced a vast amount of documentation dating back to the 1940s. Investigators interviewed hundreds of survivors and other witnesses. A hotline set up by the Attorney General’s Office received over 300 tips.
The 156 individuals listed in the report include clergy, seminarians, deacons, members of religious orders, teachers, and other church employees who “have been the subject of credible allegations of child abuse committed in the Archdiocese of Baltimore or to have relocated to the Archdiocese in the wake of child sexual abuse committed in other dioceses.”
In addition to potential criminal charges, individuals who sexually abused children could face civil lawsuits brought by survivors, as could the church and other parties responsible for the abuse and cover-up. A successful civil lawsuit could provide substantial compensation for survivors of sexual abuse by priests, teachers, deacons, and other individuals in a position of trust within the Catholic Church in Maryland.
At The Law Offices of Dr. Michael M. Wilson M.D., J.D. & Associates in Washington, D.C., our attorneys stand ready to help individuals who were affected by child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church’s Archdiocese of Baltimore. Our principal attorney, Michael Wilson, is both a lawyer and a physician, with legal and medical degrees from Georgetown University. He has more than 30 years of legal experience and a track record of recovering more than $100 million for deserving clients.
Contact The Law Offices of Dr. Michael M. Wilson M.D., J.D. & Associates today for a consultation with our attorneys about your legal options. The consultation is completely free and absolutely confidential.
Dr. Michael M. Wilson is an attorney and a physician who earned his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his legal and medical degrees from Georgetown University. He has focused in the area of medical malpractice for more than three decades and secured more than $100 million in settlements and verdicts on behalf of clients throughout the country. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and New York as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is listed in America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.
