OREGON
The Oregonian
July 21, 2017
By Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com
The Oregonian/OregonLive
A former Northeast Portland church altar boy and choir member is suing the parish for $3.1 million, claiming he was repeatedly sexually abused by a choir director in the early 1960s on church grounds and nothing was done to stop the abuse.
The Portland man, now in his late 60s and identified in the suit as M.W.R., is alleging battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress against St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. The lawsuit accuses former choir director Jay Shisler of befriending and grooming M.W.R. when he was 11 and 12 years old and later kissing, sexually touching and sexually abusing him.
The lawsuit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Thursday, and M.W.R. is being represented by attorneys Barbara Long and Randall Vogt.
The church rector, the Rev. Christopher Craun, declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday because she wasn’t aware of the allegations and hadn’t seen the lawsuit.
Shisler died in 2001 at age 60.
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