WASHINGTON
Sky Valley Chronicle
November 16, 2012
(SEATTLE, WA) — The Seattle Archdiocese has decided to settle a 1980’s sex abuse lawsuit for $635,000 payable to the man who said he was victimized by a former lay youth minister.
Rolfe Eckmann alleged he was abused in the mid-80s by Jim Funnell, a former youth minister at Saint John Vianney Catholic Church in Kirkland.
In the lawsuit he filed Eckmann contended the Archdiocese hired Funnell without a background check while at the same time the church was also implementing its sex abuse prevention policies.
In 1989, Funnell was charged with sexually assaulting a different boy and was fired from his job. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
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