HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. – Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota III has been granted permission by the courts to empanel the nation’s first special grand jury to investigate allegations of sexual abuse and child molestation by Roman Catholic priests.

To be convened within a month, the special grand jury will have an unusually broad mandate to investigate allegations of abuse and of any cover-up by the Long Island diocese, as well as any false allegations made against the clergy.