Posted by
Denis G. Riley on Saturday, September 26, 2009 4:11:04 PM
Engaging the enemy is nearly impossible if they decline to do battle. In the example below, Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark's choice of discretion was not an example of electing the better part of valor but, rather, of moral cowardice in the face of overwhelming evidence of complicity through gross negligence of his duty.
The following is a series of three letters to then Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark and his associate Yvonne Vertlieb, Esq., Erie County Second Deputy District Attorney, who he appointed as his surrogate to correspond with me, asking him to investigate child rape cases whose perpetrators used abortions to eliminate the evidence of their crimes. The fourth entry below is a letter to the Buffalo News "Another Voice" op-ed column summarizing the results of my efforts (after two weeks of discussions with various editorial staff members, the News killed the letter claiming it was "too controversial").
________________________________________________________________________
March 8, 2006
Frank J. Clark, Esq.
Erie County District Attorney
25 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14202
Re: Offenses under New York State Criminal Code Section 130.00, et al
Dear District Attorney Clark:
A review of the New York State Department of Health’s “Vital Statistics – 2003 Annual Report, Table 21: Induced Abortions New York State – 2003 by County and Mother’s Age” (copy enclosed)reveals that in 2003, the last year for which statistics are available, there were 39 induced abortions performed on females younger than 15 years of age and an additional 330 induced abortions performed on females between 15 and 17 years of age in Erie County.
Section 130.00 of the New York State Criminal Code, and its relevant subsections, as you are well aware, indicate that sexual intercourse with a female under the age of consent is a violation of varying degrees depending upon facts to be determined by police officials and/or the District Attorney for the jurisdiction in which the offence is alleged to have occurred. Pregnancy of an under age female and its termination by means of an induced abortion would appear to be prima facie evidence of, at least, statutory rape under the relevant subsection, for those females under 16 years of age, and may constitute probable cause for an investigation of forcible rape in the same incidents.
Did your office investigate, or cause the responsible police officials in the county to investigate, the 39 induced abortions performed on females younger than 15 years of age and the additional 330 induced abortions performed on females between the ages of 15 and 17 years of age as acts of statutory rape, in all instances where the female was less than 16 years of age, and as potential acts of forcible rape for all females in the reported categories?
Yours truly,
Denis G. Riley
__________________________________________________________________
March 31, 2006
Yvonne Vertlieb, Esq.
Erie County Second Deputy District Attorney
Edward A. Rath County Office Building
95 Franklin St.
Buffalo, New York 14202
Re: My letter to the District Attorney of March 8, 2006; your reply of March 10, 2006
Dear Deputy District Attorney Vertlieb:
Thank you for your reply to my recent letter to District Attorney Clark. Your statement that your office “is not a primary investigative agency” was very helpful because it made me rethink my original question.
May I restate it as follows: Is the District Attorney obligated by law to take any action of any kind whatsoever if he or she receives information that provides what a reasonable person would consider probable cause that a crime may have been committed? If so, what action is required?
Does the information that I provided you regarding the 39 pregnancies in females under the age of 15 in 2003 in Erie County constitute what a reasonable person might consider probable cause that a crime may have been committed as the law defines reasonable and probable?
I am sorry to bother you with this matter again because I am sure you have a lot on your plate. But I raise these questions out of my concern that the privacy laws surrounding abortions may provide some unscrupulous characters with a shield against prosecution for statutory or forcible rape if abortion providers are not obligated to provide information to your office or the police about underage pregnancies caused by males who have reached their majority.
Sincerely,
Denis G. Riley
______________________________________________________
July 12, 2006
Frank J. Clark, Esq.
Erie County District Attorney
25 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14202
Re: Offenses under New York State Criminal Code Section 130.00, et al; second request
Dear District Attorney Clark:
I wrote to you on March 7, 2006 asking if your office had investigated the possible statutory and/or forcible rape of girls under the age of 16 who had had abortions in Erie County (copy enclosed). My question was prompted by the 369 abortions performed on such persons in 2003, the last year for which statistics were available at that time. Yvonne Vertlieb, Erie County Second Deputy District Attorney, replied on your behalf that your office “was not a primary investigative agency” (copy enclosed).
I wrote back to her on March 31, 2006 requesting further clarification and she, once again, replied in the negative concerning your office’s role in investigating such potential crimes and the insufficiency of the information that I had provided as a basis for commencing an investigation (copies enclosed).
Because of the serious nature of the issue that I raised in my correspondence, I find it more than passing strange that your office, however, is the lead investigative agency for improper ticketing of parking violators. The Buffalo News of July 11, 2006 stated that “If an officer assesses a towing charge without trying to summon a tow truck, the officer could face misdemeanor charges of official misconduct and offering a false instrument for filing, Clark said.”
Am I to believe that the District Attorney is required to investigate misdemeanors but not felonies? What are more important, parking tickets or the lives of little girls? I hope that your reply will be that preserving the safety of these young people deserves the full attention of you and your staff.
Despite Second Deputy District Attorney Vertlieb’s claim to the contrary in her letter to me of April 4, 2006, do you not think that a pregnant 14 year old girl is prima facie evidence of sexual conduct between her and her impregnator? Is there not then a fair probability that out of the 369 under age girls who received abortions in 2003 that most, if not all, were victims of statutory rape and that one or more of them was forcibly raped?
So I ask you to please investigate immediately the possibility that behind the abortion statistics for under age girls in Erie County lays sufficient information to justify the investigation of possibly many serious felonies. I also ask you to investigate whether the clinics performing abortions in the county are complying with their obligation to report sexual abuse of minors to the appropriate authorities. Erie County Child Protective Services informs me that all medical
Frank J. Clark, Esq.
July 12, 2006
Page 2
professionals licensed by New York State are mandatory reporters of even suspected child sexual abuse.
These are issue whose time have come. The Attorneys General of Kansas and Indiana are both pursuing these issues with success (see enclosures). Do our vulnerable, young citizens deserve any less from your office?
Yours truly,
Denis G. Riley
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Word Count: 489
Dear “Another Voice” Editor:
It is often said, only partly in jest, that with the power of a grand jury at his disposal, a district attorney can indict a ham sandwich. So when I read District Attorney Frank Clarks’ thundering pronouncement in the Buffalo News July 9th edition, in which he said, “Am I going to let it die? The answer is no…,” I assumed he was using his considerable resources to pursue serious crime. But sadly, no, his mighty roar was a declaration of war on fraudulent parking tickets!
While I was not surprised that our D.A. seized the opportunity for a little demagoguery on the front pages given the public hue and cry over the issue, I was deeply chagrined that he dove headfirst into this investigation based on a news story. Particularly so because I have a letter from his Second Assistant D.A. Yvonne Vertlieb that says his office “is not the primary investigative agency” for a crime that is much more serious. That crime is child rape.
On March 8, 2006, I wrote to District Attorney Clark saying: “A review of the NYS Department of Health’s ‘Vital Statistics – 2003 Annual Report, Table 21: Induced Abortions New York State by County and Mother’s Age’ reveals that in Erie County in 2003 … there were 39 induced abortions performed on females younger than 15 years of age and an additional 330 … performed on females between 15 and 17 years of age.” In that letter and subsequent communications on March 31st and July 12th, I pressed Clark and Vertlieb repeatedly to investigate whether those pregnancies in 2003, and similar ones in subsequent years, constituted statutory rape or even forcible rape in cases where coercion or violence was used.
There has been a dramatic rise in sexual predators in recent years. It is not unreasonable to suspect that some of them have learned how to use the privacy laws surrounding abortion to shield their evil deeds from the authorities. I requested also that they look into the related matter of whether New York State mandated reporters, such as doctors and nurses at the abortion clinics that “treated” these young girls, or teachers at school districts where they were enrolled, had complied with the law requiring them to report even suspected child sexual abuse.
Clark answered all of my letters through Vertlieb the same way, saying, in effect, hey, it’s not my job! But if a newspaper story is sufficient evidence to launch an investigation of a misdemeanor (writing fraudulent parking tickets), why are the state’s own statistics on underage abortion not an actionable basis for investigating such a serious felony as rape?
Could it be that the D.A. fears the firestorm that asking Planned Parenthood and local school districts for their records might unleash?
The Attorneys General of
Kansas and
Indiana have taken such action to protect their underage citizens.
Should we expect any less from our senior officer of the court?
Coincidental with this campaign to energize the D.A.'s efforts on behalf of underage rape victims in 2006, events in our personal life caused my wife Lynn and I to relocate to Florida in the spring of 2007. With that move my correspondence with the D.A. ceased due to my lack of standing since I was no longer a resident of Erie County, New York.
Now as fall 2009 approaches here on Merritt Island, Florida, I will again take up the issue of underage girls being preyed upon by older men using abortion as their means to dispose of the evidence of their crimes. Maybe this time, maybe in Florida their cause will be championed by the chief law enforcement officer for the 18th Judicial Disrict of Florida, Seminole & Brevard Counties, Norman R. Wolfinger.
I will keep you posted.