$10M lawsuit: 2 priests sexually abused same Yona boy in '70s

By Haidee V. Eugenio
Pacific Daily News
December 17, 2018

https://bit.ly/2zZms51

Father Louis Brouillard is shown in an undated photo from the Pacific Daily News archives.

Father Louis Brouillard and Father Antonio A. Cruz sexually abused the same Yona boy on separate occasions in the early 1970s, according to a $10 million lawsuit filed in local court on Monday.

The two priests were assigned to different parishes on Guam in the 1970s, but on various occasions were assigned to conduct Mass at the Saint Francis Church in Yona. Both priests are now deceased.

The two priests, on separate occasions, sexually abused and molested the boy in their individual cars after offering the boy a ride home. Cruz also tried to rape the boy in the car, after abusing him, according to the lawsuit.

The boy, identified in court documents only as J.C.G. to protect his privacy, was a young parishioner who helped clean the Yona church after Mass at his mother's instructions.

The lawsuit says Brouillard would bring the boy to a jungle area or another place to sexually abuse him before dropping him off to his home.

Afterward, Brouillard would give the boy, who was about 10 to 13 years old at the time, money to spend on drinks and candy.

"This happened about five to six times over a period of one to two years," from about 1970 to 1973, the lawsuit says.

During this period, Brouillard also took J.C.G. to outings in the guise of teaching him how to swim and encourage him to join the Boy Scouts of America, where Brouillard was a scout master, the complaint states.

The lawsuit says the priest would take the boy into the deep part of the water and molest him, and the boy could not resist because he feared drowning.

From about 1972 to 1973, a second priest, Cruz, also persuaded J.C.G. to ride in his car and abused him, the lawsuit says.

The priest also tried to rape the boy, but he was able to get out of the car and ran home, the lawsuit says.

Represented by Attorney David Lujan, J.C.G. named as defendants the Archdiocese of Agana and Boy Scouts of America, among others.

J.C.G.'s lawsuit is the latest in the nearly 200 Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed since 2016. The Archdiocese of Agana, Boy Scouts of America and others associated with the Catholic Church are trying to settle the cases out of court through mediation.