KJ McElrath  |  December 10, 2019

Category: Legal News

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In a new Catholic molestation case, victims say they were pressured into silence.Two alleged Catholic molestation victims claim they were pressured into silence by the Church and forced to sign illegal non-disclosure agreements. In a federal lawsuit, cousins LaJarvis and Joshua L. of Mississippi, now in their mid-30s, say that they were sexually assaulted by two Franciscan missionaries as boys.

The complaint names Fr. Paul West, the Diocese of Jackson, the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn and the Franciscan Friars of the Assumption in Greenwood, Miss., as well as Franciscan leader Rev. James Gannon, who allegedly played a key role in the attempted coverup.

Specific Allegations

LaJarvis and Joshua, both African-American and baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, had grown up under economically difficult conditions, making them vulnerable to abuse. It should be noted that while only 3 percent of U.S. Roman Catholics are of African ancestry, a large number of them live in Mississippi partially because of missionary efforts by the Franciscan Friars in Greenwood.

According to the complaint, the boys were “groomed for sexual exploitation” while attending the local parochial school where one of the friars was an instructor. Just one of the latest incidents in the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, this “grooming” included hiring them to do chores, taking them to local fast food outlets and sending food home with them in addition to emotional and psychological manipulation as well as “special attention” in the form of after school tutoring (Joshua allegedly had difficulty reading – which plays into the attempted cover-up later on).

Around the summer of 1995, the defendant allegedly took LaJarvis to New York for summer camp. During the trip, LaJarvis says he was drugged, repeatedly assaulted and threatened if he ever reported the abuse.

Local Officials Attempt to Cover Up Catholic Molestation

Over the past two years, LaJarvis and Joshua finally did speak out to the local diocese about the sexual assault they had suffered over two decades earlier. According to the present lawsuit, Gannon and victim assistance coordinator Valerie McClellan met with Joshua in 2018, attempting to buy his silence for $10,000. When he balked, the offer was raised to $15,000 – and he was “discouraged” from seeking legal representation.

The complaint notes that “it was understood among the group that Joshua could not read and, therefore, was not able to understand the terms of the settlement other than the settlement amount.” When he told Gannon that $15,000 “didn’t seem like enough,” he was told he would have to hire an attorney if he wanted more – who would then speak with a lawyer for the diocese.

A Lowball Amount

It bears mentioning that in 2006, the Diocese of Jackson entered into a settlement with 19 alleged victims (most of whom were white) for an average of $250,000 each. Other settlements in Catholic sex abuse cases have been much higher, averaging almost half a million per victim. Beyond that, the agreement made with the cousins violates a 2002 promise from U.S. Catholic bishops that “non-disclosure agreements” would no longer be used in abuse cases.

Joshua and LaJarvis’ complaint states that because of the “dominant authority” of Gannon and McClellan and their relative lack of power in the negotiations, and their inability to fully understand their proposed “settlement,” the agreement is unenforceable. They are seeking a declaratory judgment to that effect, as well as compensatory and punitive damages that are more in line with similar settlements.

Joshua and LaJarvis’ Catholic Molestation Lawsuit is Case 1:19-cv-10799-ER , U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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