BishopAccountability.org

Retired Saipan Bishop Tomas Camacho named in latest sex abuse lawsuit

By Janela Carrera
Pacific News Center
February 13, 2017

http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/local/12660


Bishop Emeritus Tomas Camacho was ordained bishop in 1985 and retired in 2010.

Guam - Archbishop Anthony Apuron isn’t the only bishop facing allegations of sexual abuse. Another survivor has come forward saying he was repeatedly raped by Tomas Camacho, the Bishop Emeritus for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chalan Kanoa in the Northern Mariana Islands.

The latest accuser is 55-year-old Melvin Duenas who served as an altar boy at the St. Joseph church in Inarajan between 1968 to 1974.

Duenas said the sexual abuse began when he was 10 years old and lasted for about three years. Duenas accused the retired bishop, who was at the time serving as the priest at the Inarajan Church, of locking Duenas into a bedroom at the rectory and sexually assaulting him.

Camacho would later become the bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kona in Saipan in 1985. Duenas says he attempted to contact Camacho in 2006 but he never received a response. Bishop Emeritus Camacho retired in 2010 at the age of 76.

In addition to Camacho, Duenas says he was also sexually abused by former Guam priest Father Louis Brouillard who has been named in several other lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Agana by former altar servers.

Duenas, who is now the 17th individual to file suit against the church, is also seeking $5 million in damages making the total amount of damages being sought against the Archdiocese of Agana now $85 million.




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