Lawsuit Claims Priest Sexually Abused Portland Boy

By Kellee Azar
KATU
February 26, 2016

http://katu.com/news/local/lawsuit-claims-priest-sexually-abused-portland-boy

An Oregon man using a pseudo name of "David Smith" is suing the Dominican Order and Holy Rosary Church in Northeast Portland.

Smith was an altar boy at the time. He alleges he was sexually abused by Father Emmerich Vogt.

"He was subjected to kissing, extended hugging, touching, something no kid should have to go through, especially with a priest," Smith's lawyer Kristian Roggendorf of Roggendorf Law said.

Also in the complaint are allegations of graphic sexual conversations.

"That can really mess with a child's mind having to endure that day after day, year after year. For years and it's really something that shouldn't have happened," Roggendorf said.

The alleged abuse took place over 10 years and according to Roggendorf, Smith even went to other priests about the kissing, allegedly they told him he must obey Vogt.

"Going forward with anyone accused of these things, they need to be moved from children," Roggendorf said.

We reached out to Vogt's lawyer who also represents the church and the Dominican Order. He says he will seek to have the case dismissed:

"Father Vogt vehemently denies ever sexually abusing the plaintiff, who is using the pseudonym David Smith. We intend to vigorously defend these allegations in court.

In addition, the plaintiff was born in 1977, and the alleged child abuse took place over 20 years ago. While the current child abuse statute of limitations allows other plaintiffs to sue until age 40, it does not apply to this plaintiff. Therefore, this lawsuit was not timely commenced. We will seek to have it dismissed on that basis." -John Kaempf, Kaempf Law Firm