Latest Sex Abuse Case Names Deceased Monsignor

By Neil Pang
Guam Daily Post
May 2, 2017

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/latest-sex-abuse-case-names-deceased-monsignor/article_5ca64b76-2e42-11e7-b77b-b754505c891d.html


A former monsignor of the Archdiocese of Agana has been named in the latest child sexual abuse lawsuit filed in the District Court of Guam.

According to court documents, a plaintiff by the initials H.J.C. has accused former Guam priest Raymond Cepeda and now-deceased Monsignor Zoilo Camacho of child sexual abuse from 1974 through 1980 at the Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo.

The lawsuit described H.J.C. as having been raised in a devout Catholic family that regularly attended Mass, volunteered at functions and donated money to the church. Though H.J.C. was not an altar boy, court documents indicate that he would volunteer his services by helping to clean around the church after services.

The 53-year-old H.J.C. alleged Camacho gave him gifts and toys when he attended the Dededo parish between the ages of 11 and 15 and, on numerous occasions, would fondle his private parts and force H.J.C. to masturbate him.

"On several occasions, during confession, Camacho would instruct H.J.C. to close his eyes and start to fondle H.J.C.," court documents state. "Camacho would then take H.J.C.'s hand, put it on Camacho's penis and force H.J.C. to masturbate Chamacho. Whenever H.J.C. attempted to pull his hand away, Camacho would say, 'Boboy don't worry' and he would tell H.J.C. that he would buy (him) more toys."

In 1978, court documents state. H.J.C.'s family started attending a later Sunday Mass at the Dededo parish, where Cepeda would say the mass in Chamorro.

According to court documents, Cepeda is accused of flirting, fondling and performing oral sex on H.J.C. on church premises when H.J.C. stayed back to help clean.

Cepeda has been named in other suits that have alleged abuse as recently as the late 1980s, marking him as the most recent in a line of alleged abusers that have been named in more than 50 child sex abuse cases filed in both local and federal courts.

While H.J.C. is the first to accuse Monsignor Camacho of abuse, Camacho was mentioned in other cases filed by other plaintiffs.

'Be quiet and get out of my office'

According to Post files, Anthony Flores, 55, tried to tell Camacho about being abused by Louis Brouillard, but that when he did, the monsignor told him to "be quiet and get out of my office." Post files also show Monsignor Camacho's brother, Rev. Juan Camacho, has been implicated in abuse allegations of his own when the first female victim, T.G., filed her complaint of child sexual abuse last month.

H.J.C.'s complaint also targets the Archdiocese of Agana as the larger organizational entity that allegedly knew about the abusive tendencies of their clergy, while doing nothing to stop it.

Even as H.J.C. allegedly continued to be abused by Camacho and Cepeda, court documents state his parents "faithfully gave 'limosna' as a demonstration of their trust and support for the Catholic Church, completely unaware that the very priests conducting the services were separately sexually molesting and abusing their son ... and that the (archdiocese) was doing nothing to prevent or stop it," according to court documents.

H.J.C. is seeking a minimum of $10 million in damages and a jury trial.