Uber driver sexually assaults ‘helpless’ passenger in North Carolina, police say

An Uber driver took his passenger to the wrong location and sexually assaulted her, North Carolina officials say.

Tarik Aitouali, 39, picked up a woman and agreed to take her to a location in the early morning of June 27, according to an email Tuesday from the Kernersville Police Department.

He instead brought her to a different destination “without her consent and committed a sexual offense,” spokesman Blake Jones wrote.

“What’s been reported is deeply upsetting, and our thoughts are with the rider during this difficult time,” the company told the Winston-Salem Journal. read more »

Catholic Archdiocese of New York removes all priests accused of sex abuse, report says

Every priest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York who has a substantial sex-abuse accusation against him has been removed from ministry, according to a report released today.

That finding was revealed in a report by former federal judge and prosecutor Barbara Jones, who was tasked by Cardinal Timothy Dolan with studying the archdiocese's handling of sex-abuse complaints. read more »

He Sued Over a Priest’s Abuse. Then the Diocese Filed for Bankruptcy.

The Rochester diocese’s move has left many who were promised justice under New York’s Child Victims Act feeling betrayed.

His lawsuit and dozens of others against the diocese were supposed to play out in civil court, with the expectation that victims would learn what church leaders knew and did. But the diocese sidestepped all of that by declaring bankruptcy.

Those who had anticipated a dramatic public accounting will now see their fight for culpability swept to the sidelines under the arcane rules of bankruptcy court.

Because the focus moves to the diocese’s assets, plaintiffs will be limited when it comes to asking pointed questions of priests and obtaining sensitive documents.

The legal emphasis has shifted from the church’s failings to its finances. read more »