When former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik was indicted last month on 16 federal charges, including tax fraud and lying to White House officials, Kerik's friendship with Rudy Giuliani, a Republican presidential candidate, drew scrutiny. Rival campaigns questioned Giuliani's judgment, and political analysts wondered if his friendship with Kerik would scare off voters.

But when a handful of protesters gathered outside a Giuliani campaign event in Manchester last month, it was not Giuliani's relationship with Kerik that bothered them. They sought to illuminate Giuliani's allegiance to another friend, holding signs that read, "Rudy, too many children have been hurt. Alan Placa must go."

Monsignor Alan Placa, a priest and lifelong friend of Giuliani, was accused in a 2003 grand jury report of molesting boys and helping to suppress abuse complaints about other priests. Placa was stripped of his priestly duties in 2002 while a special grand jury investigated allegations of sexual abuse at the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island. That year, Giuliani hired Placa, who is also a lawyer, for his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, LLC.

Placa works as a consultant for the company, which helps clients with legal, security and business improvement issues. Sunny Mindel, a spokeswoman for the firm, would not elaborate on Placa's duties or his salary. Placa is not involved with Giuliani's campaign.

No charges were filed against Placa or the 22 other priests accused of crimes in the grand jury report because the statute of limitations had expired. But the Suffolk County district attorney believed it was valuable to investigate the diocese and produce a report detailing the diocese's handling of sexual abuse complaints.

Placa could not be reached for comment last week, but he fervently denied the allegations in a 2003 interview with The New York Times.

"My hand up to God, I didn't do any of those things!" Placa told the Times.

Placa has not been reinstated at the diocese, where he served as vice chancellor, but he has not been permanently barred from the priesthood.

The Giuliani campaign did not return calls for comment about Placa. Mindel has said Giuliani believes Placa was wrongly accused, and Giuliani has defended his friend in past interviews.

"I know the man; I know who he is, so I support him," Giuliani said at a campaign appearance in Wisconsin this fall, according to ABC News. "We give some of the worst people in our society the presumption of innocence and benefit of the doubt. . . . And, of course, I'm going to give that to one of my closest friends."

But advocates for victims of clergy abuse, and one of Placa's alleged victims, aren't satisfied with Giuliani's comments.

"I'm not letting go, I'm not," said Richard Tollner, 48, of Rensselaerville, N.Y., who said Placa molested him when he was 15. "I think Alan Placa deserves justice. . . . You're as good as the company you keep, and Rudy Giuliani's friend is a credibly accused child molester. These guys just think they can get away with this."

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountablity.org, said, "We think it's crucial that Giuliani explain why he is keeping a credibly accused priest close to him as a friend."

High school ties

Giuliani and Placa attended the same Brooklyn high school, Bishop Laughlin Memorial, and they both went to Manhattan College. Placa was Giuliani's best man at his first wedding; he officiated at Giuliani's wedding to his second wife, Donna Hanover; and he baptized both of Giuliani's children.

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