RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia's attorney general has set up a hotline and online reporting form for victims of clergy sex abuse.
The new reporting tools come in response to a grand jury report released in August documenting decades of sexual abuse of children and cover-up by priests and church leaders in Pennsylvania.
Attorney General Mark Herring is now investigating whether sexual abuse of children may have occurred in Virginia and whether any church officials may have covered up or "abetted any such crimes."
The hotline and reporting form, virginiaclergyhotline.com, will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The toll-free hotline will allow people to report abuse anonymously and will be staffed by Virginia State Police investigators during regular business hours.
