FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

October 24, 2012|By James D. Davis Staff writer

The Rev. Rolando Garcia was placed on administrative leave Wednesday, a day after a 34-year-old man filed suit against the Archdiocese of Miami, saying the priest molested him when he was a teenager living in Hollywood.

“The Archdiocese will offer counseling to the alleged victim and conduct an investigation following procedures outlined in ‘Protecting God’s Children’ [policy],” according to a release from the archdiocesan communications office.

In the lawsuit, Tony Simmons alleges that Garcia initiated a sexual relationship with him around 1994, when Garcia was at Little Flower Church in Hollywood and, Simmons was a 16-year-old runaway.

“I’ve got a daughter and a boy that’s coming,” said Simmons, who lives in Charlottesville, Va. “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”