Stephen Tarleton Dougherty

Tahira Khan Merritt
July 22, 2016

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On Tuesday, July 12 , 2016, we filed in County Court at Law #3, Nueces County, Texas, our firm filed a civil case against the Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi (Diocese), Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (S.O.L.T) and Stephen Tarleton Dougherty (Dougherty), alleging that when Father Dougherty worked in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, he sexually assaulted and sexually abused our client, who at that time was a child. She is identified in the lawsuit only by the pseudonym, Jane Doe 108.

Dougherty was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 in Corpus Christi, worked in parishes there and in Mathis, and resided in Robstown at the SOLT facility. On June 14th, 2016, Dougherty was indicted by a Grand Jury in Bee County for felony sexual assault of Jane Doe 108. The criminal case is pending.

The civil lawsuit alleges negligence and gross negligence against the Diocese and SOLT, alleging these Church entities knew or should have known prior to the sexual assault of Doe of Father Dougherty's propensities to molest children, but failed either to warn or protect her.