Monsignor: Abuse investigation fell through the cracks

    A Philadelphia priest described by prosecutors as a serial predator was never investigated after a seminarian’s lurid 1992 complaint because the case “fell through the cracks.”

    That’s what Monsignor William Lynn told a grand jury, according to testimony read Thursday in Lynn’s child-endangerment trial.

    Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is also charged with conspiracy for his handling of priest-abuse complaints.

    The seminarian has testified that the priest, Stanley Gana, had sex with him throughout high school, and that he reported it to Lynn in 1992.

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    Lynn told a 2002 grand jury that Gana was not sent for a psychiatric evaluation until a 1995 complaint because the earlier case “fell through the cracks” when Lynn changed jobs.

    Gana wasn’t defrocked until 2006.

    The Associated Press couldn’t locate a phone listing for Gana.

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