Wisconsin Nun who abused boys gets 1 year in jail, 10 years' probation

[Ian David]

Black Collar Crime

By Margaret Ramirez | Tribune reporter
February 2, 2008


MILWAUKEE - A Roman Catholic nun was sentenced Friday to a year in jail and 10 years' probation for sexually abusing two teenage boys at an elementary school in the 1960s.

Judge M. Joseph Donald said he spent much time contemplating a suitable punishment for Sister Norma Giannini's crime.

"I'm struggling to understand how it is that someone who spent their entire life providing education and friendship ... could have been so diabolical," Donald said.

Giannini, 79, engaged in dozens of sexual encounters with two boys, beginning when they were 12 and 13, while serving as an 8th-grade teacher and principal at St. Patrick's School, according to the 2006 criminal complaint.

Her stint at the Milwaukee school lasted from 1964 to 1969. Giannini also taught in several Chicago schools from 1949 to 1964 and again from 1970 to 1992, when the Sisters of Mercy removed her over allegations of abuse. She has been living in southwest suburban Oak Lawn.

More:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/chi-nun_bothfeb02,0,1691703.story

[MADem]

1. That's horrific.

Back in the dark ages, we never would have thought such behavior was POSSIBLE. It sounds like this nutjob plowed through the lads in her class like Sherman marching through Georgia:

Donald sentenced Giannini to 10 years in prison on two felony counts of indecent behavior with a child, but he stayed the sentence in favor of probation and a year of incarceration at a Milwaukee County jail facility in Franklin, Wis.

The judge said he decided against sending Giannini to state prison because of her age and health problems. He also recommended Giannini meet with the two victims so she could hear how abuse has affected them.

Prosecutors had sought an 8-year prison sentence.

At the sentencing, victims Gerald Kobs and James St. Patrick read statements on how the abuse had affected them psychologically, hurt their families and destroyed their faith.

St. Patrick said he personally knows of at least 12 other boys abused by Giannini. One committed suicide, and two others have sexually assaulted women, he said.

After he was abused, he said, his own life spiraled downward.