MAINE
WCSH
Chris Rose, WCSH January 5, 2016
PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) – Six men who claim they were abused by a Catholic priest in Maine many years ago have filed civil lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.
The alleged abuse happened between 1958 and 1977. The statute of limitations for their allegations has expired but their attorney is moving forward with the cases anyway. Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian filed the cases in Cumberland County Superior Court claiming something called Fraudulent Concealment.
Robert Hoatson is a former priest who now works with sexual abuse victims. Back in April he passed out copies of a letter written by a retired priest to a diocese official. It describes a conversation between the priest and another priest about five boys who had reported being abused at St. John’s Church in Bangor by Fr. James Vallely. Hoatson says the six altar boys who filed the lawsuits were abused after diocese officials were aware of those allegations.
“So we’re talking about twenty plus years when bishops new about this man’s abuse and did nothing, didn’t tell the public and didn’t do anything about it”, Hoatson said.
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