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Groups asking the attorney general of Ohio to investigate child abuse in all Catholic dioceses in the state didn't like his answer.
Attorney General David Yost said the office didn't have the authority.
"I'm more than upset," Claudia Vercellotti, a leader of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests Network from Toledo, said Monday. "I'm devastated."
S.N.A.P and Ohioans for Child Protection, among others, held a press conference last week seeking a probe by Yost into the history and scope of child sexual abuse, trafficking, enabling and any cover up in all six dioceses.
"Unlike some other states, Ohio does not grant the attorney general's office the legal authority to investigate matters like this," Yost said. "The General Assembly has the power to change the law, but at present, S.N.A.P.'s concerns should be addressed to local prosecutors."
Yost encouraged victims of sexual abuse to report the crime to local authorities.
"Reporting abuse takes courage, especially when the allegations were perpetrated by a member of the clergy or another caregiver in a position of trust," he said.
"I don't understand that," Vercellotti said.
If not criminally, a civil investigation could be done and information could be given to local prosecutors, she said. Such investigations have been done in other areas involving criminal violations, Vercellotti said.
"How is this any different," Vercellotti said.
About 20 other states have conducted investigations, she said. Among those is Kentucky, Vercellotti said.
"How are we running behind Kentucky," she said.
S.N.A.P. and other groups have been asking for an investigation for at least 20 years, Vercellotti said. Gov. Mike DeWine, who previously was attorney general, responded the same as Yost, that the office can't conduct such an investigation, she said.
"It's feeling a lot like won't," she said.