MILWAUKEE (WI)
The Republic
By The Associated Press
July 05, 2013
MILWAUKEE — Documents released this week by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee provide some of the first details on settlements paid to clergy sex abuse victims in southeastern Wisconsin. They show a few victims received large sums, but most did not — and many received nothing.
Several victims spoke to The Associated Press about their quest for compensation for the abuse they suffered. Here are their stories:
Steven Geier, a 63-year-old retired carpenter who lives in Madison, was molested by Lawrence Murphy in 1964 while attending a school for the deaf in Milwaukee. He said he reported the abuse to several priests between 1965 and 1968 but nothing was done. He didn’t seek any compensation from the archdiocese until about 2005, when he learned that a friend who had suffered similar abuse had received $200,000.
Geier, whose settlement is not included in the files made public this week, said he received $80,000. He said he asked about the difference in payments and was told it was because the other man lived in Seattle, where the cost of living was much higher than Milwaukee.
“I told him that doesn’t make sense, we’re all victims,” Geier said in sign language translated by his daughter.
Several victims said that those who were abused by Murphy at the deaf school seem to have had a particularly tough time getting help from the archdiocese, in part because they were among the first to come forward and perhaps because of their disability. Geier said he was pressured to sign his deal during eight straight hours of mediation with no break, and he said he was told if he didn’t take it, there’d be no offer the next day.
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