A Franciscan friar accused of molesting some of his former students, two of whom are involved in litigation over Catholic sex abuse settlements they say they were pressured to accept, has been extradited for prosecution.

Paul A. West, a former Catholic School teacher, was transported from his home state of Wisconsin to Mississippi, where he has been charged with the sexual battery. One of his alleged victims, a former student, says he drugged, molested and threatened him in the mid 1990s.

West, now 60, did not fight the extradition, according to a report on ABC News. He was taken to the Leflore County Jail in Greenwood, Mississippi, as a result of an investigation by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.

West has also been charged with child sex crimes, second-degree sexual assault of a child, in Wisconsin.

Sex Abuse Lawsuit

West is the subject of a recent federal lawsuit filed against him, the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, and others by two former students who say he sexually abused them.

The alleged victims, who are cousins, say they were “groomed for sexual exploitation” while attending St. Francis of Assisi School where West taught fourth grade. The boys were hired to do chores, taken to fast food restaurants and given special attention after school, their lawsuit says.

The grooming led to repeated incidents of molestation in Mississippi, Wisconsin and New York, according to a report by the Clarion Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi.

Church Offered Sex Abuse Settlements

The victims spoke up about their experiences in recent years and reported it to the Jackson Diocese, they say. In response, Franciscan leader Rev. James Gannon and diocesan victim assistance coordinator Valerie McClellan met with one of the former students in 2018, the lawsuit said. They offered him a $10,000 settlement. He declined and they increased the offer to $15,000.

“It was understood among the group that (the alleged victim) could not read and, therefore, was not able to understand the terms of the settlement other than the settlement amount,” the lawsuit says.  When the man hesitated to accept the $15,000 offer, Gannon told him he’d have to hire a lawyer if he wanted more.

The second plaintiff said he had a similar experience with Gannon, who said he would have to get a lawyer if he wanted more than the $15,000 the diocese was offering to settle his claims.

The cousins also named Gannon as a defendant in their lawsuit.

Both men eventually agreed to take $15,000 in sex abuse settlements to drop their claims, the Wisconsin Leader-Telegram reported.

A third man, the younger brother of one of the first victims to report being abused by West, said the friar molested him, too, and he reported it in 1998, the Leader-Telegram said. He rejected a similar settlement.

The two victims who originally reported abuse by West ultimately filed a federal lawsuit at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in November. In it, they claimed Gannon and the Franciscans “pressured them into signing low-ball (sex abuse settlements) that required their silence about their allegations. At the time they signed the settlements, they were not represented by an attorney,” the Leader Telegram reported.

Civil lawsuits involving the sexual abuse of children are typically filed in state courts, but U.S. News & World Report said the West lawsuit is being handled at the federal level because it includes claims of “violations of the federal Mann Act, which bars anyone from transporting minors across state lines for the purpose of having sex.”

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.