The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened an investigation against priests of the Catholic Church in New Orleans for allegedly crossing state lines to sexually abuse children.
Officials from that agency and others Sources familiar with the investigation told the Associated Press that the suspects had transferred minors from other states to abuse them.
The investigation seeks to accuse alleged perverted priests of federal crimes. Investigators are evaluating whether they violated laws such as the “Mann Act”, a statute of the 1910 against sex trafficking that prohibits the transfer of people from other demarcations for illegal sexual acts.
According to the evidence handled by the federal authorities, more than a dozen alleged victims have been interviewed.
The report on the inquiries comes in the middle of a bankruptcy process due to multiple lawsuits against the leaders of the archdiocese for allegedly turning a blind eye to the attacks. In response to the AP news agency report, the Archdiocese of New Orleans said it was unaware of the investigation.
“Beyond today’s Associated Press report, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is not both of some federal investigation of abuses in the clergy”, he reads statements quoted by AP.
For its part, the Network of Survivors of those Abused by Priests anticipated that the evidence examined by the authorities will yield revealing findings.
“We are encouraged by the news that the FBI is investigating sexual abuse and cover-up within the Archdiocese of New Orleans. We have no doubt that this evidence will reveal much more truth than we have received from church officials in New Orleans. Evidence like this is absolutely critical, especially considering the move by church officials in New Orleans to preemptively file for bankruptcy, a move that we believe was designed to protect assets, secrets, and prevent information about the cover-up from getting out. public light”, argued the entity.