CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Alicia Fabbre
Chicago Tribune
For the third time in three years, the Diocese of Joliet and a former priest are the subject of a lawsuit charging abuse.
Attorneys for Stan Lewandowski, 47, filed the lawsuit in Will County last week. The suit alleges Lewandowski was abused by Lawrence Gibbs, a priest who left the ministry in the 1990s following allegations of abuse.
Lewandowski, who was 10 at the time of the alleged abuse, served as an altar boy at Divine Savior Catholic Church in Downers Grove and attended a religious retreat with Gibbs and other boys during the summer of 1977, according to the lawsuit.
The 12-count lawsuit claims Gibbs gave Lewandowski alcohol and played strip poker with him. Gibbs also allegedly showed Lewandowski pornography and taught him how to masturbate. Gibbs also performed oral sex on the boy, according to the lawsuit.
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