Another Priest, Michael Lee Friel, Named for First Time in Child Sex Abuse Lawsuit

By Haidee V Eugenio
Pacific Daily News
December 5, 2018

https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2018/12/05/another-priest-named-first-time-child-sex-abuse-lawsuit/2212057002/

Another former Guam priest, Father Michael Lee Friel, was named for the first time in a lawsuit involving child sexual abuse that happened decades ago, while a second complaint was filed against former Guam priest George Maddock.

The latest lawsuits were filed in the Superior Court of Guam on Wednesday afternoon.

A plaintiff, identified in court documents only as J.Q.G. to protect his privacy, said in his lawsuit that Friel sexually abused him in the sacristy of the San Dionisio Catholic Church in Umatac for about six weeks, in or about 1977.

J.Q.G., represented by Attorney David Lujan, said in his $5 million lawsuit he was around 13 years old at the time the sexual abuses happened.

"After the sixth week of volunteering at the Umatac Parish, J.Q.G. could no longer handle the pain, humiliation, and embarrassment Lee inflicted on him, so he quit going to church and cease volunteering his services," the lawsuit says.

Friel died in February 2007 at the age of 77, the lawsuit says. He became a Capuchin in 1948 and was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1956. He ministered on Guam for more than 40 years, working in several parishes and schools.

J.Q.G. named the Archdiocese of Agana and the Capuchin Franciscans as among defendants in the case.

Second lawsuit against Maddock

A former Yona altar boy accused former Guam priest George Maddock of sexually abusing him during at least 40 Sundays from about 1978 through 1980, according to a complaint filed by a plaintiff identified in court documents only as W.M. to protect his privacy.

This is the second clergy sex abuse lawsuit naming Maddock, who passed away in September in New York.

W.M. said in his lawsuit that Maddock sexually abused him "on at least 20 Sundays per year for a period of at least two years," or in or about 1978 through 1980.

The sexual abuses happened mostly during swimming of altar boys at the USO beach in Piti after Sunday Mass, and while the priest was driving in his car with W.M, the lawsuit says.

During those Sunday swimming, the priest would abuse W.M., including forcing him to remove his pants, fondle his private part and do other sexual acts, the lawsuit says. The complaint says Maddock would also force the boy to touch the priest's private part.

The lawsuit says the priest would pretend to teach W.M. how to drive his vehicle by making the boy sit on his lap and then abuse him.

W.M. was about 9 through 11 years old during the time of the abuses, the lawsuit says. Maddock was a Capuchin priest at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Yona, where W.M. was serving as an altar boy during that time, the complaint says.

W.M., represented by Attorney Anthony C. Perez, named the Archdiocese of Agana and the Capuchin Franciscans as among defendants.

Nearly 200 Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits have been filed since 2016, and parties are due to report to court in January the status of their mediation to try to settle the cases.