Windy Sydney

Okay, so here we have an article I came across on one of the many message boards I frequent. In Boston, a young mormon boy was sexually assaulted by a man who had a previous criminal record including prior acts of sexual abuse. Why was the church allowing this man to serve as a freaking babysitter? Is anyone else livid?? It happens more than you know... here are the details.

How does this happen? Do they not care? What the hell?

METHUEN, Mass., May 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boston firm law of
Stanzler Levine, LLC (http://www.stanzlerlevine.com), has
brought suit in Lawrence Superior Court against the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Stanzler Levine
represents the mother of a young boy sexually assaulted at
the Mormon Church in Methuen, Massachusetts. The complaint
alleges that the Church, located at 39 Hill Avenue, permitted
a man with a criminal record including prior acts of sexual
abuse to act as the Church's babysitter. The Complaint further
alleges that after the mother notified Church officials of the
abuse, the officials, rather than immediately reporting the
incident to the authorities as required by Massachusetts Law,
attempted to silence the mother in order to avoid bad
publicity. In order to protect the boy from further harm,
the suit has been filed under the name "John Doe."

The boy's mother, whose name is also kept confidential in
order to protect her son's identity, stated, "I brought this
action only after it became came clear that the Church's
concern was not with my son's welfare, but with protecting
themselves from bad publicity." A convert to Mormonism twenty
years ago, the boy's mother left the Church after reporting the
abuse to Church officials in the fall of 2005. "I was horrified
that after I told the Church officials about the abuse, they
still allowed the perpetrator free reign at the Church, and my
son was terrified." The boy suffers from post traumatic stress
disorder and is in therapy to help deal with the trauma.

After authorities were finally notified in late December 2005,
the perpetrator, Kevin Curlew was arrested and confessed. In
June of 2006, Curlew was sentenced to 9 to 10 years and he is
currently serving his sentence at MCI Cedar Junction. During the
investigation, the Methuen police also arrested another Church
volunteer, Peter Paquette, for failing to register as a sex offender.
Methuen police detectives also complained that the Church had
not been cooperating with the investigation, and it had been nearly
two weeks after Curlew's arrest before the Church turned over
its member list for the Methuen ward.