Victim Of Clergy Sex Abuse Hopes Central Pa. Scandal Sends Harrisburg A Message
VANDERGRIFT (KDKA) -- Robert Mizic, 45, lives in the small Westmoreland County borough of Vandergrift.
Back in the late-1970s, when Mizic was growing up in suburban Philadelphia, he attended a small Catholic school in Pottstown where he served as an altar boy at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church.
That's when he says the abuse began.
He says his mother, Bev, went to rectory and complained when he told her "the priest had asked me some lewd questions in the confessional." He was never specific at the time.
After that, he says the priest first sexually and then physically abused him for a period of several months.
Mizic is going public now for the first time because of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's report on the alleged widespread sex abuse of children in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.
"I'm not overly shocked," Mizic said. "It occurred to me a long time ago, but [this investigation] was a long time coming."
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Mizic says state lawmakers now have to do the right thing, and lift the time limits on the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases.
"The seven-year statute of limitations is probably the worst travesty in our court system," Mizic said.
In child sex abuse cases, Mizic believes the statute of limitations for the perpetrator has effectively protected them with a veil of secrecy.
Mizic told KDKA TV's Ralph Iannotti, "We victims are victims our entire lives. We shouldn't have to bear the shame we bear. We deserve justice; we deserve to see them in court."
