Former Altar Boys Allege Abuse at Chalan Pago Parish

By Mindy Aguon
Guam Daily
March 8, 2017

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/former-altar-boys-allege-abuse-at-chalan-pago-parish/article_bd12931a-03cd-11e7-a18c-7769900dd166.html


Two former altar boys have come forward and filed lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana and the late Father Antonio C. Cruz for alleged sexual abuse that occurred on the parish grounds at Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago.

Richard Scroggs, 57, and Tomas Afaisen De Plata, 62, allege they were sexually abused and molested by Cruz when he was the parish priest.

De Plata alleges that he was repeatedly sexually molested by Cruz. In September 1963, Cruz offered to pay De Plata to help clean the Chalan Pago parish rectory. The lawsuit states that Cruz left to meet another priest then returned and called De Plata to his bedroom and began performing oral copulation on him. In the midst of the sexual act, Father Louis Brouillard entered the room and took pictures of Cruz performing oral sex on the 11-year-old boy, the lawsuit alleges.

Brouillard allegedly told Cruz, “I’ll give you the pictures later.” Cruz instructed De Plata not to say anything and paid him $50.

The lawsuit states that in 1964 during Lenten week, Tomas and his brother, Ramon, spent the night at the rectory. Tomas De Plata alleges he witnessed Cruz sexually molest and abuse an altar boy together with a seminarian named Anthony Sablan Apuron, who later became an ordained priest and the Archbishop of Agana, court documents state.

Tomas De Plata also alleges that in 1966, his younger brother, Fermin, who is now deceased, was sexually abused by Cruz when he was tending to the family’s cows. He said he went looking for his younger brother and found him in the church social hall, crying. “Fermin told him that Cruz had pulled down his pants and started to perform oral sex on him,” the lawsuit alleges.

Box of crude, nude photos

Over time, Tomas De Plata gained the trust of Cruz who gave him keys to the rectory and asked him to retrieve an envelope for the priest. The former altar boy alleges he found a box containing nude pictures of him and other altar boys. “Inside the box were nude pictures of numerous altar boys, including Tomas. There were also nude pictures of Cruz, Brouillard and other priests, committing sexual acts on minor boys,” the complaint states.

De Plata said he burned the box and the photos behind his grandmother’s house behind the church and never returned to the Chalan Pago parish until Cruz had left the parish.

Scroggs lawsuit

Scroggs alleges that during his three years as an altar boy at the Chalan Pago parish, Cruz would frequently sexually molest him. The priest allegedly grabbed his private parts and said, “That’s what I want.”

The lawsuit also accuses Cruz of requiring Scroggs to stand and watch the priest masturbate while wearing his robe.

Scroggs was 11 years old at the time.

Cruz passed away in November 1986, according to court documents.

The two lawsuits each seek $5 million in damages.