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A28 u.s. news
Diahuebs 14 aPRiL 2022

Former Franciscan friar

convicted of 1990s child

sex abuse

(AP) — A former Franciscan friar was convicted
Wednesday of sexually abusing a grade school student
during the 1990s at a Mississippi Catholic school.

A Leflore County jury deliberated less than an hour before
finding Paul West, 62, guilty of one count of sexual battery
and one count of gratification of lust, the Greenwood Com-
monwealth reported.

West was accused of sexually abusing La Jarvis Love, now 39.
Circuit Judge Ashley Hines sentenced West to 30 years on
the first count and 15 years on the second count, to be served
consecutively.
Love began crying when the verdict was read.
“I want to thank the state. I want to thank everybody that rep-
resented us,” Love said. “I just want to thank God, the provid-
er, the creator. He restored my faith today. I really appreciate
Bipartisan push on mental health crisis him, and I believe again.”
Gaunt and relying on a walker, West made no comment when
that COVID worsened escorted by deputies from the Leflore County Civic Center,
where the two-day trial was held.
(AP) — A major effort to overhaul care for people in the United States with mental As first reported by The Associated Press in 2019, La Jarvis
health and drug problems is gaining traction as Congress and the Biden administra- Love and his cousin, Joshua Love, now 38, had accused West
tion work on overlapping plans to address concerns across dividing lines of politics, of numerous instances of sexual abuse while they were stu-
geography and race. dents at St. Francis of Assisi School in Greenwood.

Top goals include responding to the mental health crisis among youth, increasing the supply Both Loves testified Tuesday of repeated abuse by West begin-
of professional counselors and clinicians, narrowing a persistent gap between care for physi- ning when they were in the fourth grade. They testified the
cal and mental health problems, and preserving access to telehealth services that proved their abuse occurred both at the school and on trips to New York
usefulness in the pandemic. and to Wisconsin, where the Franciscan Friars of the Assump-
tion of the Blessed Virgin Mary are based. West was a member
COVID-19 has laid bare the need. of the religious order.

The U.S. was already in a mental health crisis, with suicide rates climbing and chronic prob- West was also charged with two counts of abusing Joshua
lems accessing treatment. The opioid epidemic had a firm grip on cities and small towns. But Love. It was not immediately clear why the jury did not act
the coronavirus made everything worse. on those charges.

An analysis of government data found that about 4 in 10 adults reported symptoms of anxiety A third man, Joshua Love’s younger brother, Raphael Love,
or depression in the first year of the pandemic, compared with about 1 in 10 before that. More also alleged that West sexually abused him. He reported the
than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses from May 2020 to April 2021, a record for lethal- abuse to church authorities in 1998, after which West re-
ity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. turned to Wisconsin and left the order.

Trying to translate need into action, the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Mark Belenchia, volunteer state coordinator for Survivors
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee are working to produce bipartisan legislation this Network of those Abused by Priests, said church officials
summer. should have taken more decisive action after learning of Ra-
fael Love’s allegations.
Leaders of the Finance Committee have enlisted pairs of senators — one Democrat, one Re-
publican — to develop policy ideas in five broad areas. The committee has jurisdiction over “Justice delayed is justice denied,” Belenchia said. “This
major government health insurance programs while the other committee oversees private should have happened 20 years ago.”
insurance and public health.
West has been held in Mississippi’s Leflore County Jail since
“I think everybody understands the challenge of threading the needle in a 50-50 Senate,” said September 2020, when he was extradited from his home state
the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. But, he added, of Wisconsin to face two counts of sexual battery and two
“the most important takeaway for me is that the urgency is different ... more people are falling counts of gratification of lust. He pleaded not guilty.
between the cracks.”
La Jarvis Love now lives in Senatobia, Mississippi, with his
President Joe Biden seems to be on the same page. wife and four children. He identified West in the courtroom
as his abuser and said this was the first time he had seen him
in person in more than 20 years.

La Jarvis Love testified that he was in third grade when he first
encountered West, who was his physical education teacher.
Laga nos West later became principal of the school, Love said, and re-
ceived permission from Love’s grandmother to use corporal
punishment, such as paddling.

La Jarvis Love said the sexual abuse began when he was in
fourth grade, with touching, groping, and what he called “ex-
ABUSO CONTRA MUCHA tra friendly” physical activity. The abuse lasted until eighth
kibra silencio yama: grade, he said. He also said West began calling him to his of-
fice, showing him pornography on West’s computer, and fon-
dling him. La Jarvis Love testified that the abuse included oral
sex and anal penetration.