Kob 4: Our Backstory

Hundreds of abused boys and girls swells to hundreds of thousands when you examine the clergy abuse crisis on a national scale. Many of the factors that led to priest abuse in New Mexico parallel trends across the country, and even around the world.  On this series finale of Our Backstory, we talk to New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests about the ongoing fight to hold the right people accountable, as well as why a culture change is needed as much as a legal one. 

In an act of good faith to try and repair its trust with the public, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in late 2017 released a list of what it referred to as 74 credibly accused priests.  A few months later, a pair of lawsuits allege that the list is inaccurate.  For KOB's original report on this story, click here.   

In the second part of this two-part report, we return to the lonely town of Farley, New Mexico, where dozens of boys were abused at an isolated ranch-turned-isolated hell. What, and who, brought an end to it? For KOB 4's original report on Hacienda de los Muchachos, click here.     

In the first of this two-part report, we travel to a town that is small even for New Mexico, and to a lonely abandoned building where unchecked sexual abuse by one man was rampant over 40 years ago. For KOB 4's original report on Hacienda de los Muchachos, click here. 

Before reporting on the crisis of priest abuse in New Mexico, we went to court to fight for the unsealing of documents that would become the bedrock of our reporting. An Albuquerque attorney joins us for a discussion on that legal fight. For more on KOB 4's court fight, as well as links to other reports in this series on KOB.com, click here. 

For years, abuse by Catholic clergy in one northern New Mexico archdiocese was rampant. We talked to two survivors about their experiences, and confront one of those former priests themselves. For KOB 4's original report on Sabine Griego and his victims, click here.

From KOB-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico, our investigative team examines, discusses and reports on topics with relevance not only in our state, but across all 50. These are the extra details, extra soundbites and extra tidbits of information that may not have fit into our TV coverage, straight into your ears. For the latest news from KOB, visit our website.