CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register
By KELLY PUENTE | kpuente@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: July 20, 2017
A former Irvine church assistant is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange alleging that she was sexually assaulted by one of its high-ranking priests who previously spent time in a treatment facility for “sexually deviant” clergy.
In her lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday, the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, says she was sexually assaulted and harassed by Father Alex Kim in 2016 while working as his assistant when he was pastor at St. John Neuman Church in Irvine. He is also being sued.
The suit alleges that Kim, ordained in 1991, was circulated to various parishes in Orange County and ultimately promoted to pastor despite a decade-long history of sexual misconduct complaints by female parishioners. The diocese sent him to a treatment facility in 2012 before naming him as pastor at St. John Neuman, the suit says.
David Ring, the woman’s attorney, said the diocese was aware of Kim’s “history of exploiting female parishioners” but “turned a blind eye” because of his popularity and success at fundraising.
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