Director of SNAP resigns amid pay for play lawsuit

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests announced Tuesday that its longtime national director, accused by a former SNAP employee of referring potential clients to attorneys in return for financial kickbacks to the group, resigned at the end of last year.

The announcement that David Clohessy, of St. Louis, left the Chicago-based organization comes a week after he and other leaders were named in a lawsuit filed by a former employee who said she was fired shortly after asking superiors whether SNAP was referring victims to attorneys in exchange for donations to the organization.
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According to the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Gretchen Rachel Hammond worked as a director of development from July 2011 until she said she was fired in February 2013. She grew suspicious when she was not permitted to participate in an internal audit of SNAP [Gee, sounds like the same thing they consistently accuse dioceses of doing] by an accounting firm and was barred from attending programs to help generate material for grant proposals, the suit said.

She also was given access to a list of lawyers who regularly donated to SNAP but was told to never tell anyone that lawyers donate to the organization, according to the lawsuit. It was when Clohessy accidentally copied her on an email to an attorney, asking when SNAP could expect the next donation, that Hammond began to ask questions and the workplace climate dramatically changed, she alleged in the lawsuit.

story at Chicago Tribune

Related: Federal judge sides with St. Louis priest in SNAP defamation case

Report: Out for Money: Jeff Anderson and SNAP

David Clohessy was out in front of the Chancery of the Archdiocese on Thursday October 10th. The Executive Director of SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) according to his own testimony has done this thousands of times. SNAP has been busy in the Twin Cities of late. They have been drawn here by the media frenzy surrounding the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. There is currently at least one lawsuit pending against the Archdiocese, filed by local lawyer Jeff Anderson. Having worked together before, Clohessy and Anderson’s routine is well known. During the course of the allegations, investigations, press feeding frenzy, depositions and (occasional) court show downs; SNAP and Anderson take steps to apply “the most intense pressure”, a phrase from Anson D. Shupe, author of Rogue Clerics. 

But last year, as part of a lawsuit pending in Missouri, Clohessy himself was unwillingly deposed. The deposition was recently made public. The document raises more questions than it provides answers. Not only does Clohessy’s testimony undermine the credibility of his own organization, his words also raise questions about Jeff Anderson.

Source: David Clohessy’s Deposition.

Clohessy unsuccessfully tried to use the Missouri Rape Crisis Center Statute to shield himself from being deposed. When asked, “Did you identify yourself as a rape crisis center?” Clohessy answered, “I don’t know.” (pg. 87) Rape crisis centers typically have licensed personnel to counsel and treat victims. From the deposition:

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