Lawyers Amend Sex Abuse Lawsuit against Local School, Diocese, and Religious Order

By Crispin Havener
WJAC
January 21, 2020

https://wjactv.com/news/local/lawyers-amend-sex-abuse-lawsuit-against-bishop-mccort-high-school-and-diocese

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WJAC) — Lawyers filing a civil lawsuit alleging fraud and conspiracy against a local catholic school, the diocese, and a religious order over allegations of sexual abuse made by a former student have amended their lawsuit.

The plaintiff, listed in the complaint as "A.L.", said the abuse by an unnamed "priest and athletic trainer" employed by Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown, the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, and the Third Order Regular Friars, Province of the Immaculate Conception of the United States, started after the student suffered an injury during a freshman day camp. The athletic trainer, according to the complaint assaulted the student on and off campus over a two-year period.

Adam P. Murdock of Robert Peirce & Associates tells 6 News the changes to the lawsuit, filed in October 2019, better reflect the name of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular, Province of the Immaculate Conception of the United States and their proper address in Hollidaysburg. Murdock said the initial complaint "inadvertently identified the incorrect Franciscan party" as the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular, Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Loretto but they were in no way involved in the case.

The victim is filing suit claiming allegations of abuse by others were not known to him until the 2016 grand jury report into the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown came out, according to the complaint.

The 2016 grand jury was put together after Stephen Baker, an athletic trainer and religious studies teacher at Bishop McCort and a Third Order Regular Franciscan brother in Hollidaysburg, was accused of sexually abusing teens in multiple states, including dozens at Bishop McCort. Baker died by suicide in 2013, a few days after being named in legal settlements out of Ohio, which led to several McCort students coming forward alleging wrongdoing.

Baker worked at McCort from 1992 to 2000 but had a continued presence at the school through the late 2000s, according to prior news reports.