BUFFALO (NY)
WBEN
April 5, 2018
By Mike Baggerman
Claims abuse from 1981
An anonymous victim of clergy sexual abuse came forward on Thursday in the latest case against the Diocese of Buffalo.
John Doe, a 48-year-old male who grew up in Western New York but now lives in Washington, D.C., is accusing a former priest from the Diocese of Buffalo of sexual abuse in 1981, when Doe was 11 years old. Doe said the abuse occurred when he was an altar server. He was invited by the priest to a confessional and was sexually abused outside the booth following his confession.
We have reached out to the accused priest, who is still alive and lives outside of New York State, but have not received comment. We will not publish the name of the priest until we have further vetted the story.
“I spent 15 years working as an educator and I worked with numerous families that had survived this horrendous crime,” Doe said. “I don’t feel that society is very fair in terms of how people move forward. In my case, I’ve had a lifetime of behavioral health issues associated with this and I think there is a societal stigma attached to that….This occurred when I was 11. The first I ever discussed this was when I was in college, when I was 20 or 21. I have not really spoken a lot about this in my life.”
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