
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990                   TAG: 9003062148
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

FUNDS FOR RUNAWAYS REPORTED USED FOR LOANS

The Rev. Bruce Ritter denied any wrongdoing in setting up a trust fund of nearly $1 million for runaways that also was used to make loans to two Covenant House board members and Ritter's sister, The New York Times said today.

Officials of Covenant House, built by Ritter into the nation's biggest network of shelters for runaways, told the newspaper the loans from the tax-exempt fund were made without the knowledge of most members of the board.

It was not known whether the loans were illegal, the newspaper said; that would depend partly on what information was provided to the Internal Revenue Service and the state attorney general.

Ritter resigned last week as president of Covenant House amid allegations of sexual misconduct involving young runaways.

Press

by CNB