FLORIDA
Miami Herald
The archdiocese changed course Wednesday and suspended the Rev. Rolando Garcia, pastor of St. Agatha Church, after an Iraq veteran accused him of abuse in the 1990s in Hollywood.
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
When an Iraqi war veteran publicly accused the pastor of St. Agatha Catholic Church of sexually abusing him in the 1990s, the Archdiocese of Miami issued a statement admonishing the news media for not asking tougher questions of his lawyer about the molestation claims.
The archdiocese immediately countered Tuesday that the attorney had filed “several lawsuits” in the past against the archdiocese in which he accused St. Agatha’s Rolando Garcia of abusing boys. “And yet to date, none have been proven credible,” the archdiocese declared.
But late Wednesday, the archdiocese dramatically changed course, saying Garcia “was placed on administrative leave” because of the lawsuit brought by the war veteran, Tony Simmons.
The previous day, Simmons stood with his lawyer in front of St. Agatha in West Miami-Dade to announce he was a 16-year-old runaway when he met Garcia at the Church of the Little Flower in Hollywood in 1994.
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