PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review
Oct. 9, 2019
By Deb Erdley
A woman is suing the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg, claiming she was repeatedly raped by a priest in her Seward parish in 1972 after the priest was transferred there because of earlier abuse allegations.
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, said she suffered horrific sexual abuse by the late Rev. George Pierce between 1973 or 1974, when she was about 11 years old, until 1978.
The lawsuit is the most recent allegation to surface against the late clergyman, who was singled out in the August 2018 grand jury report detailing abuse allegations against 301 Pennsylvania priests charged with abusing more than 1,000 children over several decades.
Doe’s attorney, Altoona lawyer Richard Serbin of Janet, Janet & Suggs, said Doe, who is now in her 50s, initially applied to the Greensburg diocese’s compensation fund. She opted to pursue a lawsuit instead after she was offered $88,100 and informed that was the maximum the church would be offering anyone.
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