Victims group releases 3rd report on Philly priest abuse

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The national victims group SNAP has released a previously undisclosed grand jury report on sexually abusive priests in Philadelphia.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says the 2003 document affirms what two later grand juries found: that abusive Roman Catholic priests were protected and transferred among parishes.

Tasha Jamerson, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, says there is nothing new in the document.

She says it’s an interim report from a grand jury whose 18-month time limit had expired. A second grand jury continued the investigation; it released a scathing 2005 report that Jamerson says includes material from the 2003 document.

Another grand jury report this year led to criminal charges against three priests and others.

The Philadelphia Archdiocese declined comment due to a gag order.