Minnesota lawsuit accuses deceased priest who was extradited to Ireland of sexual abuse

MINNESOTA
TribTown

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press
First Posted: June 18, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS — A man who says he was sexually abused by an Irish priest during his brief stay in Minnesota in 1982 sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of New Ulm on Tuesday, becoming the latest of several plaintiffs to take advantage of a new law easing the state’s statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse.

Attorney Patrick Noaker filed the lawsuit in Brown County District Court in New Ulm on behalf of a man identified only as John Doe 103. He says he was molested by Francis Markey, a priest who was extradited from Indiana to Ireland in 2010 to face charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy there in 1968, but who died at the age of 84 last year before he could go on trial.

John Doe 103 says in the lawsuit that he was about 15 years old and in 10th grade when Markey abused him in 1982 while he served at St. Joseph Parish in Henderson.

The lawsuit accuses the Diocese of New Ulm of negligence, alleging church officials knew Markey had been accused of sexually abusing children elsewhere and knew he had undergone treatment for pedophilia at three separate facilities in his native Ireland, England and New Mexico.

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