MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
Another sexual abuse lawsuit has been filed against a Kansas City priest who is awaiting sentencing on a federal child pornography conviction.
The civil lawsuit, filed Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges that the Rev. Shawn Ratigan engaged a girl in sexually explicit conduct from 2009 to 2011 when she was 10 to 12 years old.
The suit was filed on behalf of the girl — identified as Jane Doe 96 — by her parents. It seeks unspecified damages and is the fifth lawsuit to be filed against Ratigan involving child pornography allegations.
Like the others, the lawsuit also names Bishop Robert Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph as defendants, saying that Catholic officials had been warned about Ratigan’s troubling behavior and knew of disturbing images on his laptop computer but failed to take immediate action.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.