GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Steve Limtiaco, slimtiaco@guampdn.com July 25, 2016
The former altar boys who accused Archbishop Anthony Apuron of sexually assaulting them have revised their $2 million libel and slander lawsuit, citing more examples in which the local church allegedly defamed them after they made their allegations public.
The revised lawsuit also argues that Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon, who has temporarily assumed Apuron’s duties in Guam, should be held equally accountable for past statements by the church because the church has not retracted or repudiated any of the statements.
The revised lawsuit accuses Apuron and the church of making defamatory statements against the accusers, despite knowing, “there had already been a history of sexual abuse committed by priests in the Agana Archdiocese.”
Since May, three former Agat altar boys and the mother of a deceased former altar boy have come forward to publicly accuse Apuron of sexually assaulting the boys when he was parish priest in the late 1970s.
Roy Quintanilla stated his allegations on May 17, followed a couple of weeks later by Doris Concepcion, who said her deceased son, Joseph A. Quinata, had told her Apuron molested him. Walter G. Denton in early June stated Apuron had raped him during a sleepover, and Roland Sondia in mid-June stated Apuron had molested him.
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