Alex Henties was on probation in two states while he supervised the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's criminal background-check program.
Church officials say they were aware before hiring Henties that he had committed a theft and some other minor crimes in the 1990s. But they say they did not know about the more recent offenses.
The archdiocese fired Henties last year after he was arrested on drug possession charges.
Court records show that he was convicted of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in Hamilton County June 16, 2003 - one week before the archdiocese hired him as coordinator of the background-check program.
Three months after starting his new job, Henties was arrested again in Dearborn County, Ind., on drunken-driving charges.
Judges convicted him in both cases and sentenced him to probation for one year.
After initially defending the decision to hire Henties, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk said last week that he regretted hiring someone with a felony record to run the background-check program.
"The fact that there was more than one arrest might add to that regret," church spokesman Dan Andriacco said of Henties' arrests in 2003. "But one felony conviction is bad enough."
Critics say the failure to spot convictions in two states before and after Henties' hiring raises questions about the background-check program.
They say their concerns are magnified in Henties' case because he was hired to help set up and coordinate the program, which fingerprints all church employees and checks their criminal history.
"In the position he was in, they should have done a background check," said Christy Miller, co-leader of Cincinnati's chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "That's not a lapse in judgment - that's just very poor policy."
ACCESS TO PERSONAL DATA
Miller and others have complained that someone with Henties' history never should have access to employees' personal information.
More than 30,000 people have gone through the background-check program, and church officials say there is no evidence anyone's information was compromised.
The archdiocese has hired a private investigator to examine the program and to investigate sexual abuse allegations that Henties recently made against his former boss, Vince Frasher.
Frasher, the archdiocese's personnel director, has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of those investigations.
Church officials have referred the case to Hamilton County prosecutors, who also are investigating. Authorities recently obtained a search warrant to seize some of Frasher's computers.
Prosecutor Joe Deters declined comment, and Frasher could not be reached. Andriacco would not say whether any church computers have been taken.
"We would welcome a criminal investigation if the prosecutor's office felt it was warranted," Andriacco said.
WCPO-TV (Channel 9) reported this month that Henties, who is serving a two-year prison sentence, had told police that Frasher abused him.
Henties, 32, said the abuse took place while he was growing up in Montgomery and continued for several years.
Andriacco said Frasher last month gave church officials a letter, signed by Henties, denying any abuse took place. He said he did not know anything more about the letter or the circumstances under which Henties signed it.
ABUSER OR MENTOR?
Andriacco said the letter describes Frasher as a mentor and surrogate father.
Court records also indicate that Frasher and Henties had a close relationship.
A report prepared last year after the drug arrest describes Frasher as a "friend and legal guardian."
Judge Robert Ruehlman sent Henties to prison for two years in March after he returned to court on a new charge of fleeing police in a car. That charge led to the two-year prison sentence.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Archdiocese missed arrests
Monday, May 29, 2006
Maid to order - The Times of India
Getting a domestic help is a tough job and running a background check is even tougher. We tell you why.
Roma pishi came to work in the house as a domestic help when she was in her teens. Then she grew up, got married, had kids — who live in the village. But Roma pishi stays in the city, does household chores, is happy with a Rs 50 hike, doesn't dream of chiffon sarees and loves watching TV in the evenings.
It makes her feel part of the family. And most importantly her employer trusts her 'blindly.' This typical image of the maid or domestic help has changed considerably though.
In fact, the image has undergone a negative transformation, thanks to the constant reports of servants playing a major role in robberies, murder and cheating of their employers.
That's why more and more employers are going for a thorough background check before hiring a maid. Helping in this process are the centres that supply domestic helps. But is the checking system foolproof ? CT checks out.
One such centre Sevika has the system of checking the ration card of the employee along with a letter from the local councillor or panchayat, along with two photographs of the individual.
"We are very particular about the papers,"says Col Amlendu Deb, the owner of the centre, adding, "But when we give the papers to the police for verification, the response is very slow. It takes months.
This is again a problem for us."Another centre, Care, which has its offices in Kolkata along with all the other metros in India, too follows these norms. "We are very particular about the papers being right as we send girls to other states too.
We also have to check the age of the employee, since she must not be below 18. It's almost an unwritten code that we take people through references. Which means they are referred to us by someone who has worked here before.
That way it is easier for us to track the girls,"says Sharmeela Chatterjee, the owner of the centre. And what about police verification?
"They do help but not always. Only when we ask them to take up one particular case, they do so. Rest of the time, they just keep the papers with them and seldom give us feedback,"says Chatterjee.
But A Ganguly who had hired a domestic help from such a centre, has a different story to tell. "There is always a security risk with them as most of the time they do not have the right papers. Also, their family members start visiting the house. You constantly stay with the fear that they are passing on information to the wrong people,"said Ganguly.
On the other hand, a senior official of West Bengal Police, refuses to accept the charge that police doesn't do regular verification.
"I have never encountered such complaints that the police is not ready to cooperate. One can pick up an identification form from us, fill it in and submit it to us with relevant papers and photographs of the domestic help. Then we run a check on the person and get back to the employer. There are very few people who make good use of this facility provided by us."
Nobody probably ever thought that hiring a maid can become such a cumbersome process. As the new breed of salwar-kurta-fairness cream-flaunting breed of maids take over, scepticism mounts in households. Roma pishis are dearly missed.
McCarthy Cites Need for Gun Reform
In the future, gun buyers may be subject to more comprehensive and complete background checks, thanks to an increasingly more streamlined and efficient national databank.
The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security passed the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Act, a series of additions and upgrades to already existing laws. The NICS is a federally mandated databank of criminal records utilized by Federal Firearm Licensees and managed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A licensed firearms dealer is required, under permanent provisions of the Brady Act, to conduct a criminal background check on prospective gun buyers.
The proposed law, which is sponsored by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), would require state agencies to cooperate fully with the FBI in terms of providing relevant criminal records, if they wish to continue receiving federal dollars. Although the NICS was established in 1998, not all states have fully participated in the program nor are they currently required.
New York State, for example, is considered a non-Point of Contact state, meaning firearms dealers must deal directly with the FBI for background check information and solicit state background checks from state police. Thirteen other states are recognized as Point of Contact (POC) states. Agencies in POC states have established their own Brady NICS units so that gun dealers may request background checks from only state authorities, who can access state and federal databases.
In 2000, in a General Accounting Office report to Congress, states were found to be better equipped to handle background checks. The report said that states are more familiar with their own gun laws and could therefore expedite background checks on potential buyers. Also, some states had established databases for the purpose of criminal background checks already. Unfortunately, a majority of states still do not fully participate in the NICS program because of the most common prohibitive barrier: cost.
McCarthy’s legislation authorizes $250 million grants for fiscal years 2006, 2007, and 2008. However, if the legislation takes more time to pass through Congress, the grants would be pushed ahead to span the next three years. The money is intended for states to use for keeping their records electronically up to date and, more importantly, federally accessible through the NICS.
“While maintaining NICS records ultimately is the responsibility of the states, state budgets are already overburdened,” says McCarthy.
The 2000 report suggested several revisions necessary to make NICS as effective as possible. Suggestions included mandating federal funding so that NICS units can be established and operated under the supervision of state authorities. McCarthy realizes the grave importance of attaching federal dollars to the issue of state compliance.
“Here’s the carrot and the stick, states will have a certain number of years to comply with the legislation or else lose federal dollars in the end,” says McCarthy.
Along with state regulations and gun laws, federally mandated criteria for firearms dealers have been considered generally acceptable. Under federal law, dealers are not to sell guns to known felons, those convicted of a crime with a sentence exceeding one year (two years for misdemeanor), known addicts or users of a controlled substance, those dishonorably discharged from the armed forces, and those “adjudicated mentally defective.” Other disqualifying criteria include renouncing one’s citizenship, non-immigrant or illegal alien status, anyone subject to a restraining order or anyone convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor.
Twenty-eight states have failed to fully report their felony convictions to NICS databases, according to McCarthy. Domestic violence restraining orders are not available via NICS in 15 states. The proposed bill aims to mandate the collection of data so a criminal prohibited from buying a firearm in one state cannot cross into another state and purchase a weapon. It’s this kind of abuse and negligence that worries McCarthy.
“I was on a radio show just yesterday where gun owners all over the country called in…most were saying how they believed this legislation is reasonable. One dealer said he wouldn’t sell his guns at gun shows because there were no background checks there, he didn’t want to put his guns in the wrong hands,” McCarthy added, “Most gun owners are very reasonable.”
McCarthy is a long time advocate for stringent gun laws. In 1993 tragedy shook the Long Island native when her husband was killed and son wounded after Colin Ferguson opened fire on commuters riding a Long Island Rail Road train. Ferguson had purchased the gun legally.
McCarthy, who was elected to Congress in 1997, was inspired to do everything she could to promote stricter gun legislation.
McCarthy has referred to the expiration of the assault weapons ban as “infuriating” and sponsored legislation to continue the ban. She has also sponsored more than a dozen similar pieces of legislation promoting gun safety, strengthening existing gun laws and an attempt to close the “gun show loophole,” which allows gun buyers to purchase weapons at gun shows without submitting to a background check.
McCarthy has been carefully and aggressively promoting the NICS improvement legislation. She has been working closely with committee leadership, members of the House and members of the Senate, including Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). McCarthy believes that the bill has what it takes to pass through Congress.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Bouncer background checks?
There is a new push to make nightclubs in Manhattan safer. The move comes after several high profile murders, including Immette St. Guillen's at a club in Soho and this week's fatal shooting at a club in Chelsea. In both cases, bouncers at the club are accused of the crime.
"You have these bouncers put into authority positions in these clubs where they have power over people. It's clear that when that power is unchecked and unregulated, terrible things can happen," says City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Quinn instructed her staff after the Immette St. Guillen tragedy to find anyway to bring the largely state-regulated realm of nightclubs under city control. St. Guillen was allegedly raped and murdered by bouncer Darryl Littlejohn after he worked last call at The Falls bar in Soho.
A simple background check would have revealed the ex-con was violating probation by working around a bar.
"We're going to require that bars check to see whether their bouncer's have licenses to carry guns and check the bouncers to see if they're going to carry guns with their own licenses," says Quinn. "If they fail to do either of those things, we're going to shut them down."
Quinn's "Bouncer Bill", which is still being drafted, will work through the city's nuisance abatements laws. The legislation seeks drug testing, background checks, gun permits, and weapons inspections for anyone employed as security personnel around a club or bar.
