Deception

 Back in the 90s, Boston Globe Spotlight broke the story about the Boston Archdiocese and the pedophile priests stories. I tried to get them to include our stories—I knew they were connected, I just didn't know how much.

Whenever I do a story and I think it’s ‘fini’—it inevitably throws a monkey wrench sooner or later.  Something tickled me about this story this morning and it led me to more information about prosecutable misgivings about Father Daniel Hart.  He was far more active in shielding child predators than of which I was aware.  Additional information on Daniel Hart is now inserted in this article.

I’m not driven to tears often. I see myself as staunch and stoic. Last night, however, I found my face bathed in that salty fluid as I listened to myself assure a victim of a crime that justice would now be done.

“They know about him now,” I said. “They’ll do something.”

It is an interview I taped on 9/28/1992. I listened as life occasionally interrupted the conversation I had with Judy. My sons came in and out of my room, and my beloved dogs barked. Judy choked back tears as she told me her story—a horrific one in my eyes. An eleven-year-old girl fearing for her life as she was sexually assaulted; her young brother hunkering down with her in what they called their fort in the attic telling tales of assault, too. Her mother, addicted to prescription drugs by the offending doctor, proclaiming to the doctor that he would have to help them now. He didn’t.

I had not yet developed a more professional journalistic approach, so I was amateurish. But I dug to get the details and am ashamed and proud of myself for doing so. It was a beginning for me. What I hadn’t put together yet was that the case had already ended.

The man frequented schools and home for disabled children in his capacity as a doctor.  Judy told me he had a large photo of a mongoloid girl-child dressed in a transparent negligee on his wall.

I had collected a mish/mash of records, documents, and newspaper articles. I would pour over them in coming years—connecting one dot after another. I would suffer for it. Little did I know, I was a threat, and threats are taken out. I was a ringleader—a voice. A very loud one at that. I have a vivid recollection of sitting across from a police detective and having him say to me, “You’re quite the little crusader, aren’t you.” It was a statement rather than a question.

I have provided supportive documentation to add a sense of truth to what I am saying.

As I said—the case had already ended. Agencies, hospitals, school systems, and even the DA’s office had known about this child predator for years. To go forward with prosecution would reveal that fact. The DA had declined to prosecute Judy’s case in 1977. Her mother had nearly stabbed to death a doctor in his office in 1977 over her daughter’s assault. That article is here.

WhenTed was stabbed, two colleagues from the adjoining children's hospital rushed to the ER to be with him as doctors attended his wounds.  Dr. Phillip Lazeroff and a social worker.  I asked Ted, 4 years after he was stabbed, to help me get this guy off the streets.  
He looked me full in the face and said, "No."  
I could see fear in him.  
I'm sure my jaw must have hit the floor as I sputtered, "How can you look at your own children and not want to do something?"
I didn't understand why he was afraid until much later.  I suspect it would have been professional suicide.  He rallied 6 years later and went gung-ho on stopping this man.

I swear Ted Sheftel was one of the bravest men I have ever known.  A year or so after he helped, He moved out of Massachusetts.  I suspect he burned all his bridges by taking Friedman out.  Knowing what I now know, I suspect his colleagues--his longtime colleagues, may have ostracized him.  He's old and sick now, but I hope he doesn't regret what he did.

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In 1977, the Court psychiatrist (Dr. David Swenson) listened to Shirley Chouinard reiterate her story and her daughter, Judy’s. 

This document was produced in subsequent years. 

I interviewed Dr. Swenson. He was a kind, old man. I sat in his office at the Courthouse clinic in the early 80s, and my eyes reached out to his as he told me he had urged the DA to prosecute Friedman. The DA had declined.  Scratch Judy’s case. 

The DA had already declined to prosecute it. 

But it proves that the DA knew about a dangerous sexual predator years earlier.  (This was probably communicated to the police prosecutor, which means the police knew about the man.)

Earlier, in 1975, a child’s aunt took her to a local children’s hospital. 

They made this report 

documenting the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. So doctors at a local hospital knew. Mandatory Reporting was in force at this time, and laws were broken in order to keep this hush-hush. In subsequent years, they simply stopped recording allegations.

In the late 60s/early 70s, Catholic Charities ran 25% of all outpatient mental health clinics in the state of Massachusetts. These children came from troubled families so often ended up in this type of care. The building the offending doctor worked in was owned by 

The Boston Archdiocese. 

I had a conversation with a woman who told me she had been on the Board of Directors of the organization located in that building and a Father Hart had urged them to write letters demanding the offending doctor’s resignation. When she asked why she was told just write it. The doctor resigned and moved on to another state. Sound familiar?  The Father who solved their problem was shoved up the ranks 6 months later.  He received a promotion.

I moved forward with the task of denying this man access to children but met resistance at every turn. His colleagues seemed to be more worried about his career than the devastation he had left behind.

In September of 1989, I received the letter below. It was apparently the man’s get-out-of-jail-free card. He never saw a day in jail.

I had reported the man in 1969. So by 1992, professionals had known about this man for at least 23 years. The system failed these children. Better still, it deceived them (us) into believing society actually gave a shit.  

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