PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Joseph A. Slobodzian, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: Sunday, February 3, 2013
The criminal case resulting from the serial sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northeast Philadelphia altar boy may well have ended with Wednesday’s guilty verdicts against a priest and a former Catholic-school teacher.
But the convictions of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero have also opened the door for a civil lawsuit with the potential to reach beyond the two defendants into the hierarchy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
The lawsuit by the former St. Jerome’s altar boy dubbed “Billy Doe” was filed in July 2011 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. It has been dormant while charges against Engelhardt and Shero were unresolved.
Lawyers for the now-24-year-old Billy say they are preparing to reactivate the case and expand the number of church officials being sued.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” lawyer Paul Lauricella told reporters after Wednesday’s
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