In response to a Freedom of Information Law request from The News, Buffalo Police checked their records to see if any incidents of sexual abuse or misconduct by priests have been reported in the past 10 years. Police said no such reports were made by Buffalo Diocese officials.

Victims often didn't tell

Many of the victims waited years – and quite often, decades – to report their abuse to anyone. By the time they did report it, New York’s statute of limitations on criminal prosecutions made it impossible to press charges.

“In those days, no one could imagine that a priest would ever do such a thing. You were afraid that no one would believe you, and you’d be a laughing stock if you told anyone,” said Larry Kasper, 64, who alleges that he was molested as a teenager by two Buffalo priests who are now deceased, Linus Hennessy and William F.J. White. “Hennessy punched me between the legs one time, so hard that I started to cry. He told me, ‘If you ever tell anyone about this, this will only be the beginning of what happens to you.’ I never said a word to anyone for almost 50 years.”