Bishop Bransfield, Stay Home

I was in Brussels only to come back to Washington to discover the complaints about Bishop Bransfield are as hot as ever. The large National Catholic Reporter newspaper issued a statement of importance to the college. Why? Because it is Bransfield who is keeping the college afloat. As soon as he falls - and it is coming through a quiet investigation in Philadelphia - the college will have no more sugar daddy.

See what the newspaper printed earlier this week:

"This week, all of America's Catholic prelates are invited to the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Almost all of them will certainly show up.
Consider West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield, also accused of molestation. He should be disinvited from this week's meeting.

In April, Bransfield was accused of abuse by a man who testified about another child-molesting cleric. During that same trial, another man, also under oath, said Bransfield had a lewd conversation with him. And the prosecutor in the case disclosed that Bransfield had been accused, in a separate instance, of fondling a child years earlier.

Despite a pending criminal investigation into these allegations, Bransfield refuses to step aside during the probe.

In light of this, Bransfield should be told to stay home this week."

Larry Catraro

Animal House

Just when you thought Wheeling College could not get any worse -- another police investigation. The College's Saint Thomas More Hall is now dishonored as Animal House.

Click this morning's story in the Wheeling Intelligencer:

"WJU Menage a Trois in Student Lounge Draws a Crowd."

Chronological list of Wheeling's Sex, Crime & Dishonor after Fr. Julio's open-minded and Jesuit  based administration was slammed shut 37months ago: 

10/14/9 - WJU picketed by SNAP (Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests) because of WJU's ongoing harboring of accused homosexual predator Thomas F. (Tommy) Gleeson, S.J.

12/18/9 - Sexual harassment lawsuit filed against WJU & J. Davitt McAteer.

9/29/10 - WJU's pedophile-professor-priest, Felix Owino, convicted of aggravated sexual battery of an eleven-year-old girl.

5/14/11 - Convicted felon Milorad Blagojevich's good friend and campaign manager, David Wilhelm, awarded an honorary degree by Wheeling Jesuit University.

6/25/11 - J. Davitt McAteer inducted into WJU Hall of Honor.

2/16/12 - Federal agents raid WJU's office and V.P. McAteer's office at WJU seizing files, computers, and cellphones. NASA agent, under oath, believes WJU and McAteer committed multiple felonies!

9/27/12 - WJU's Saint Thomas More Hall dishonored as Animal House. Menage a trois in student lounge draws a crowd. Police investigate.

Where did this info come from?

Where did these facts come from? Why now?  Might the end be near?  CLICK HERE.

- Larry

NASA Special Agent believes WJU committed five federal crimes

Click here to see the affidavit of the NASA Special Agent who established probable cause for the 2/16/12 massive federal raid on Wheeling Jesuit University.

The NASA agent believes that Wheeling Jesuit University committed five federal crimes: Theft (18 U.S.C. 666); Major Fraud (18 U.S.C. 1031); Conspiracy (18 U.S.C. 371); False Claims (18 U.S.C. 287); and Wire Fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343), [¶ 6, p. 2].

The affidavit also implicates the WJU Board of Directors in criminal activity. To wit: "Documents obtained thus far also evidence knowledge and intent by the Wheeling Jesuit University Board of Directors to circumvent the [law] and improperly divert Federal Government funds for the purposes of sustaining Wheeling Jesuit University in its general, non-federal program educational areas." -- ¶ 16, p. 9.

The 25-page affidavit is followed by nine pages listing locations and items to be seized.  The identities of the two suspected perpetrators: Redacted Subject #1 is J. Davitt McAteer, Vice President of Wheeling Jesuit University; and Redacted Subject #2 is Wheeling Jesuit University.

If you have any questions, please ask them in the commentary section.

The End is Near

The incestuous relationship between Wheeling College and Bishop Michael Bransfield is over, for ever.  The funds he donated to the college were nothing other than the down payment for the property which he knows in heading toward bankruptcy.  The "Davitt" case is bad enough. But the sexual antics of "sugar daddy" is too much even for a hardened lawyer like myself to hear. Well, almost too much.

Some years ago, Bransfield is alleged to have said on the phone to the man in the Philly courtroom: "I'm going to have Stanley put you on a train and come down and see me sometime."  If this is true, then he needs to wire his resignation to Pope Benedict by COB today.

The arrogance this bishop of the RC Church had to humiliate the Sisters of the Visitation by denying them the right to sell their own property to the college.  The arrogance he had, out of jealousy, to demand Fr. Giulietti's dismissal.

What goes around comes around.  The rats are leaving the ship.

- Larry

Feds probe NASA fraud by WJU & McAteer

A Federal Grand Jury probe is focusing on NASA fraud by Wheeling Jesuit University and by WJU Vice President J. Davitt McAteer. The investigation appears to center on whether WJU diverted taxpayer dollars via fraudulent billing expenses.

Witness affidavits supporting the warrants for the 2/16/12 raid upon the WJU campus will be kept secret for another 60 days. Yesterday (4/12/12) U.S. Magistrate James E. Seibert denied McAteer's motion to have that information unsealed. Wheeling Jesuit University also argued unsuccessfully to have the witness affidavits unsealed. The U.S. Attorney expects more current and former employees of Wheeling Jesuit University to appear before his grand jury.

"The reputation of Mr. McAteer and Wheeling Jesuit University have been thrown into question by publicity surrounding the search," saith McAteer's criminal lawyer. So who is to blame for WJU's most recent bad publicity -- McAteer or the courageous whistle-blowers who are testifying before the grand jury?

On February 16, 2012, federal agents seized files from McAteer's WJU campus office, and from his home office in the eastern panhandle. Agents of NASA and other federal agencies from all over the country converged upon the campus, and simultaneously upon McAteer's eastern panhandle estate. In Wheeling, they took all the WJU files and WJU computers from the 3rd and 4th floors of the National Technology Transfer Center (one of the Byrd buildings). Then they confiscated all the private files and computers belonging to Davitt McAteer.

J. Davitt McAteer, Vice President of Wheeling Jesuit University since 2005 (and Interim-President-Emeritus), was recently inducted into WJU's Hall of Honor.

William J. Ihlenfeld, II, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling Division), recently implemented the Northern District Financial Crimes Task Force (Racket Squad).

To the Associated Press, WJU's Richard Beyer referred all questions to Michelle Rejonis who refused to discuss the matter. Well, no change there; same old stonewall still in place. The McAteer/Shea agenda of stonewalled silence and secrecy following the August 2009 firing of WJU's President Julio Giulietti, S.J., continued through multiple scandals ensuing thereafter. Now the Cardinals have come home to roost.

For more details, click these news reports from Jackson, Mississippi and from Wheeling, West Virginia, and from Blithe Spirit.

Mike Fahy
Quartus

The painful truth finally is surfacing

Just before Easter, I had lunch in Washington with a Wheeling College faculty member.  He was secretly in the DC area seeking interviews for a job.  He told me that the college's president, Mr. Beyer, had finally admitted to the employees that the college is in a precarious condition.  The student body has dwindled.  Even with investing lots of borrowed money to hire new recruiters, over the third year the college did not come close to the number of new students it needs to cover costs.  (Not counting the drop-outs.)  Not many high school students are interested in attending the college even when the school is giving away entrance.  Its final drawing card, that it is a Jesuit college, had been erased with the debacle of the unjust firing of Fr. Giulietti.

More news: Joe Bock, director of development, and elder brother of the Bock on the Wheeling Board - nepotism if I ever heard of it - was fired by Mr. Beyer. The great hope did not produce much of anything.  Where is Fr. Julio when you need him?

Finally the Jesuits.  Jesuit sources in DC say that the Order agreed on a few colleges they expect to "go under" over the next three to five years.  Wheeling is the first candidate.  When will they admit this publicly?  When will Mr. Beyer fess up to the employees?   What plans does Bishop Bransfield have for the former Jesuit school?

These facts add further nails to the coffin.

- Larry

Feds raid McAteer office at WJU!

When Fr. Julio was fired, I immediately linked Davitt McAteer to the NASA scandal as a reason for firing WJU's President. Now the Feds have seized files from McAteer's campus office, from his home office in the eastern panhandle, and perhaps from his Morgantown office (rent paid by WJU). Click HERE and HERE for newspaper accounts.

BACKGROUND:

On 8/3/9 NASA issued an audit report critical of WJU. Only hours later that day, Gerard Stockhausen, S.J., sent an e-mail notice of the meeting where Julio Giulietti, S.J., was surreptitiously fired in absentia, sans debate. The intensive clandestine campaign to fire the president was launched by and spearheaded by J. Davitt McAteer; this according to statements later issued by board member Rudolph L. DiTrapano, Sr. Coincidental? In my Chicago, we have a saying: 'There are no coincidences in politics.'

We now know that Mount de Chantal real estate was the bishop's reason for firing our president. But that may not have been the only reason. There is ample evidence to conclude that at least one person wanted to prevent Julio Giulietti, S.J., from delving into the NASA mess, and that person was J. Davitt McAteer.

As VP for Sponsored Programs, Governmental Relations and Legal Advisor, McAteer was responsible for the Center for Educational Technologies and also the National Technology Transfer Center. McAteer has accumulated considerable personal wealth from taxpayer dollars. A NASA honeypot is certainly not beyond the scope of reasonable inquiry.

Why else would McAteer be appointed acting president? Who appointed him acting president? That question has never been answered by anyone. The Wheeling Intelligencer has never reported his appointment, and has never reported the critical NASA audit report.

In an 8/31/9 article entitled WJU Debacle: Who did it, How they did it, and Why they did it, I answered the question, Why did they do it? in part:
"Perhaps the goal was not to fire Julio Giulietti, but to put Davitt McAteer in the president's office to cover up the NASA mess (In this scenario, Julio Giulietti was merely collateral damage). The troika gave McAteer that job for a reason. He was VP for Sponsored Programs, Governmental Relations and Legal Advisor. That means he was responsible for the Center for Educational Technologies and also the National Technology Transfer Center. Immediately preceding the board action against Julio Giulietti, NASA issued an audit report critical of WJU. That timing cannot be dismissed as merely coincidental! And the report cannot be dismissed as merely a $4,000,000 clerical error OK'd by the man in charge, (guess who?) Davitt McAteer. The entire $4,000,000 inappropriately charged to NASA was attributed to salaries for administrators. That means, (guess who?) Davitt McAteer. For certain, Julio Giulietti has not been president long enough to be responsible for the increased debt caused by this NASA mess. NASA issues the audit report critical of WJU, and immediately McAteer replaces Giulietti! Sounds like fertile ground for a grand-jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney."

On 8/14/9 I e-mailed a letter to J. Davitt McAteer responding to his letter of the same day to alumni. I wrote in part: "The Intelligencer details a long list of impressive accomplishments for his brief tenure. Why did WJU fire him? Please tell us the truth. To do otherwise would be tantamount to character assassination of a good and decent Jesuit who acted honorably. No matter how sordid you believe it is, the truth is better than that in which you are now mired [a reference to the NASA scandal]."
McAteer has never responded to my letter.

On 10/24/9 I wrote an Open Letter to Father Provincial James Shea, S.J. regarding WJU's growing list of scandals. In part, I wrote:
"NASA issues the audit report critical of WJU, and immediately McAteer replaces Giulietti! The public perception is clear: WJU has been placed between avaricious men and a pile of money. Remedy: a restoration of accountability to the NASA program by requiring full disclosure of Davitt McAteer's oversight of the NASA debacle."
Shea has never responded to my letter.

It would appear that the U.S. Attorney now shares my desire for full disclosure.

Magna est veritas et praevalebit!
(Truth is mighty and shall prevail!)

Mike Fahy

Another Nail in the Coffin

I was on business in Belgium last week and returned to discover that a power-hungry member of the Wheeling College administration has fallen.

Some back ground. Fr. Julio sacking was against the will of the full board of directors.  It was orchestrated by a small group of narrow thinking, fearful, jealous and power-hungry people – not all men – who could not bear change.  Of the three Jesuit trustees who voted in the darkness of secrecy to overturn the will of the board, two have been discredited.  We wait for the fall of the third, who all know, has not born the heat of just labor for a long time.

Yet there were others behind the scenes to design the ignominious sacking of a good man. One is Mr. J. Davitt McAteer, then a VP for Sponsored Programs, mostly federal programs with NASA.  Board members tell me that Fr. Giulietti was aware that Mr. McAteer acquired an outrageously high salary for his position especially while the college was struggling for solvency.  Father was supported in his decision to limit McAteer’s salary and investigate questionable practices with NASA grants.   Mr. McAteer complained to some board members (who did not like Father Julio) that he was unjustly persecuted; that his salary was just for the money he brought in; and that if he left his position the college would lose its federal (NASA) funding.  At that time, college employees monitoring the federal grants noticed irregularities under the VP’s nose.  NASA questioned the college on its monitoring of its funds which were under the direction of Mr. McAteer.

The day of Fr. Julio’s demise, it was Mr. McAteer who was immediately appointed by unknown board members as acting president of the college.  Insult to injury for Fr. Julio and the college community!  Some close to events then remark that Mr. McAteer wielded his unjust authority brutally against Fr. Julio and anyone who questioned his authority.  Sadly, the Jesuits did not intervene.

Now Mr. McAteer is in deep trouble.  Loads of files from his campus office and home office have been seized by federal authorities so they can examine his seemingly illicit practices with federal moneys.  See: HERE

Mr. McAteer, the feds have caught up with you.  You are another nail in the college’s coffin.

-by Larry Catraro