With Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh leaving office in the coming months, survivors of clergy sexual abuse are calling on him to update the public on his office’s investigation of the Catholic Church in Maryland.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests plans a Tuesday news conference outside the attorney general’s Baltimore office to “call for openness and transparency” about the probe.
It’s been four years since it became public that Frosh’s office was investigating sexual abuse in the church. Some survivors have grown frustrated at the lack of conclusion.
“What’s taking so long?” asked David Lorenz, who leads SNAP’s Maryland chapter. “For the most part, I feel like we’ve been strung along.”
He pointed to investigations of the church in other states, such as Pennsylvania. There, the investigation took two years and resulted in a grand jury report in 2018.
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Raquel Coombs, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said Monday the investigation is ongoing.
“We expect to have some news in the next few months,” she said.
Christian Kendzierski, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said church officials have cooperated with the state’s investigation.
Frosh, a Democrat first elected in 2014, did not seek a third term. A new Maryland attorney general is set to be elected in November, with Democrat Anthony Brown facing Republican Michael Peroutka.
In addition to Frosh leaving office, the attorney overseeing the investigation, Special Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Embry, recently won a primary election to represent a House of Delegates district.
“We’re starting to see the clock wind down,” Lorenz said. “Brian Frosh will no longer be the attorney general … We want something to come out before they leave.”
Lorenz said the state should issue at least “a preliminary report” about the investigation.