GUAM
Guam Daily Post
Mindy Aguon | For the Post
The latest sex abuse case filed in the District Court of Guam alleges that a former Guam Catholic priest, who later became bishop of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, repeatedly molested and raped an altar boy decades ago.
Melvin Duenas is the 17th victim to come forward and file a lawsuit in the District Court against the Archdiocese of Agana, retired Bishop Tomas Aguon Camacho of the CNMI, and Louis Brouillard, a former priest who worked at parishes and schools on Guam. Camacho, 83, is accused of sexually abusing Duenas for at least three years before the former altar boy ran away.
The complaint, which seeks a minimum of $5 million in damages, alleges Duenas was repeatedly sexually molested and raped by Camacho when he became the priest for the Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Inarajan in the 1970s. The lawsuit accuses the Archdiocese of Agana of knowing about the sexual abuse and assisting Camacho and Brouillard with keeping the misconduct “hidden or secret.” It also accuses the archdiocese of failing to adequately investigate, discharge or discipline Camacho and Brouillard, and other priests known to have sexually abused children.
Calls to Camacho went unreturned as of press time.
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