CALIFORNIA/IRELAND
Modesto Bee
By Sue Nowicki
snowicki@modbee.com
A third lawsuit filed last week against the Rev. Michael Kelly by a former altar boy at a Calaveras County church brought a swift response from the priest, who now lives in Ireland.
“The allegations are completely and totally false. They NEVER happened. Never. They are utterly untrue,” Kelly wrote in an e-mail sent Thursday morning.
The first lawsuit, filed by Travis Trotter and alleging sexual abuse by Kelly in Stockton, was settled in April for $3.75 million. A second lawsuit was filed Sept. 11 by another former Calaveras County resident. All three plaintiffs are clients of Vince Finaldi and John Manly, Southern California attorneys who have won large clergy abuse settlements from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The most recent lawsuit comes on the heels of a series of letters from Kelly supporters received by The Bee. The letters say many current and past parishioners from Sonora, Tracy and other places where Kelly worked over four decades received phone calls from a woman who wanted to know if Kelly had molested their children.
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