Tenth Victim Files Sex Abuse Complaint

By Neil Pang
Guam Daily Post
November 28, 2016

http://www.postguam.com/news/local/tenth-victim-files-sex-abuse-complaint/article_e7ed9a5e-b54d-11e6-97fa-93beaaab0906.html

Shortly after Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes made his first public comments to local media, yet another victim of alleged child sexual abuse filed a complaint with the Superior Court of Guam.

Fifty-six-year-old Inarajan resident Anthony Vegafria filed his complaint yesterday shortly before 5 p.m. accusing Rev. Louis Brouillard of molesting him as a child when he was an altar boy at the Malojloj Parish in the early '70s.

Vegafria's complaint marks the fifth such complaint to be filed against Brouillard and is the second complaint that states the abuse took place at the former Carmelite Monastery in Malojloj.

Brouillard, 95, is a retired Roman Catholic priest who now resides in Minnesota. He has publicly admitted to sexually abusing boys under his care as both a parish priest and a scout master for the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America, in both letters and a video statement.

Abuses in the 1970s

According to court documents, Vegafria was abused from 1971 to 1974 when he was between the ages of 12 and 15 and an altar server at the San Isidro Catholic Church of Malojloj, where Brouillard ministered at the time.

Details in the complaint state that altar boys of the Malojloj Parish would occasionally go to the Carmelite Monastery in Malojloj where Brouillard resided. At the monastery, Brouillard reportedly walked around nude, displayed and talked about pornographic material to the boys and would sometimes give the boys leftover wine from Mass to drink while watching television.

Documents add that Vegafria observed Brouillard abusing other altar boys, and that other boys also witnessed Brouillard abusing Vegafria.

Introductory allegations detailed in the complaint state that Brouillard obtained permission from Vegafria's parents to let Vegafria stay the night at the monastery. Brouillard is said to have used the excuse that he did not want Vegafria to be late to serve the next day during Mass, or that he needed Vegafria to sleep over in order to serve for special occasions like weddings, funerals or baptisms.

Vegafria alleged that it was during these occasions that Brouillard would sexually molest him. When Vegafria would protest Brouillard's actions, he stated that Brouillard would threaten that Vegafria would no longer be able to serve as an altar boy or participate in their activities. The complaint states that Brouillard would coax boys into becoming altar servers by bragging about how he routinely gave altar boys money, treated them to dinner and took them to watch movies.

Like previous accusations made against Brouillard, Vegafria's complaint states that Brouillard's abusive behaviors and actions extended to his role as Scout Master for the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. As a Scout Master, Brouillard reportedly took anywhere from 10 to 12 boys on weekly outings for hiking, swimming and camping. Brouillard would allegedly molest the boys during these activities.

Vegarfria added that he watched Brouillard molest his now-deceased friend, and that he believed Brouillard also molested his now-deceased younger brother.

10 complaints

Vegafria joins nine other complainants in their accusations of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of church clergy. All of the complaints also allege that others within the archdiocese were aware of the abuse, but did nothing to stop it.

The 10 complaints request monetary relief for various damages and state that the sums of the damages are to be proven during trial.