Alleged Delbarton abuse victim files lawsuit, asks to be released from gag order

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

Published: Saturday, June 30, 2012

By Kevin Manahan/The Star-Ledger

MORRIS TOWNSHIP — He stood six feet from the microphone on the lawn of the Morris County Courthouse Friday, his wife’s hand clasped and his lips clenched as others spoke of him in the third person.

And when it was time to be heard, he didn’t even read his own statement.

His real name protected, he is known as “John Doe” in a civil lawsuit filed Friday, and as victim “W.P.W. II” in a criminal plea signed by a sexually abusive monk 24 years ago.

The Rev. Timothy Brennan’s victim, now in his 40s and living on the West Coast, remains silent, attorney Greg Gianforcaro said, because when the man asked in 2002 to be released from a confidentiality agreement that came with a seven-figure settlement in 1988, lawyers for Delbarton School and St. Mary’s Abbey threatened him. They vowed to sue for the return of the money and to seek financial damages on top of that, if he spoke out, Gianforcaro said.

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