By Kirk Mitchell
Denver Post [Colorado]
February 26, 2007
A man who sued the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo claiming he was molested at a Catholic school as a teenager has been recorded saying he was not a victim.
"I feel worse being called a victim because I know I'm really not, and I know real victims who are not getting help," Thomas Roy Monroe, 53, of Pueblo said in a phone conversation recorded Sept. 22, 2005, the day his suit was filed.
"I may get a million bucks," he chuckled in the DVD recording, "and these real victims are getting nothing but more shame. That's probably why I feel so bad about it."
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| Nathan W. Armes |
In an interview Tuesday, when Monroe was asked whether he made up the story about being molested, he said he was telling the truth. A former licensed counselor who often treated sex-assault victims, Monroe said that, like many sex-assault victims, he was in denial when he spoke during his recorded phone conversations.
"I stand by everything I said (in the lawsuit)," Monroe said. "Denial is a tactic of all kinds of victims. Any money I get (through the suit), I'll donate to charities."
The Denver Post received a copy of the DVD containing recordings of phone and household conversations from Monroe's ex-wife, Gwyn Monroe.
His attorney, Jeffrey Herman of Florida, who was provided a copy of the DVD recording, said Thursday he could not comment specifically on Thomas Monroe's case. But he noted that some underage sexual-assault victims don't consider themselves victims if they willingly participate in sexual acts or if they weren't violently assaulted.
Herman added that he wouldn't represent someone if he didn't believe they were assaulted.
After viewing the DVD, Herman said, "It is not something I would ignore," but he wouldn't clarify what he meant.
Monroe said he routinely recorded himself, making some 240 DVDs. "I'm kind of journaling," he said in an interview at his Pueblo apartment.
When read excerpts of his statements on the recording, he cautioned that the DVD recorded only half of the conversation and that context is missing from prior conversations.
A gag order imposed by the judge in Monroe's civil case against the diocese prevents him from commenting further about the case, he said.
Music teacher accused
During a Sept. 22, 2005, news conference with Herman, Monroe said that in 1968, when Monroe was 14, then-band director William Mueller of the now- closed Roncalli High School molested him five times.
In his lawsuit filed in Pueblo District Court against the Diocese of Pueblo and the Marianists Province of the United States, Monroe claims that during private lessons, Mueller would have him remove his clothes and then the music teacher would fondle his genitals while he played the trombone.
The lawsuit says Monroe told school counselor Jose Montoya of the alleged abuse, but no action was taken. Montoya died in 2002.
Bishop Arthur Tafoya of Pueblo said in a statement that the diocese has no record of any complaints of sexual misconduct against Mueller until recent legal claims were filed.
Mueller, 68, who lives in Texas, did not return phone messages seeking comment.
Monroe, who works as a youth counselor, filed his suit about a week after several other former Roncalli students filed suits accusing Mueller of sexual assault.
Herman said he represents 22 plaintiffs claiming abuse by Mueller. None of their suits has been resolved yet, he said.
Calls accusation "stupid"
Monsignor Mark Plewka of the Pueblo Diocese said that if an alleged victim lied about what happened, he should withdraw the lawsuit. He said he has not seen Monroe's DVD.
On the two-hour DVD, in which Monroe was recorded making phone calls Sept. 22 and 23, 2005, he repeatedly spoke of his news conference on the lawsuit. The disc includes recordings of several TV news broadcasts on Sept. 22 covering the news conference.
"I'm going to say (Mueller) molested me playing the trombone nude," Monroe said on the DVD during a phone conversation the day after the Pueblo news conference. "That's almost like a 'Saturday Night Live' skit. It's stupid. It's retarded. It's just so retarded."
He added in a later phone call on the disc that he felt "dirty and nasty just being called a sex- abuse victim and I'm not. I never have been."
He said on the DVD that Herman told him that multimillion-dollar settlements were the norm for his clients, "especially for those who are the spokesperson or the point man."
In one recorded phone call, Monroe said that while he is not a victim, casting himself as one gives him the "opportunity" to have empathy for victims.
"More victims will come forward and want to talk to me about what happened to them," he said.
In a video-journal entry recorded on the same DVD, he said his lawsuit would give him career stability, money, influence and power to help others.
During one of the recorded phone calls, he said he would give all the money he gets from the Catholic Church back to the diocese.
Dr. Thomas Paine, a psychology professor at Santa Clara University in California, has written several books and articles about clergy abuse. He said that while there has been no study of the matter, experts say between 10 and 20 percent of sex-abuse allegations against priests are fabricated.
Without commenting on Monroe or the validity of his case, Paine said several factors can lead to false accusations. Some people, he said, are delusional or get satisfaction from being in the limelight. Others are angry at the church for other reasons and see it as a way to strike back. And still others "see the church as (having) deep pockets," he said.
"The sad thing is that the majority who come forward are indeed child sexual-assault victims," Paine said, "and the false claims will hurt their chances of being believed."
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
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