FLORIDA
NBC Miami
By Diana Gonzalez
Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012
A 34-year-old man came forward Tuesday to make new sexual abuse allegations against an embattled South Florida priest, Father Rolando Garcia.
Tony Simmons said he was a 16-year-old runaway when he met Garcia at Church of the Little Flower in Hollywood in 1994. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Miami-Dade County Court says that Father Garcia initially gave him assistance and counseling, but began sexually abusing Simmons after they went to a movie one night.
Garcia later employed him as a painter at the church from 2001 to 2003 while the abuse continued, Simmons said at a news conference he held with attorney Jeff Herman in front of St. Agatha Catholic Church in southwest Miami-Dade. Garcia is currently the pastor of that church.
Simmons claims the sexual relationship ended when he joined the U.
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