DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
August 17, 2020
By Tresa Baldas
Father Eduard Perrone says he’s been vindicated in a sex abuse case against him, and he wants his job back.
The embattled priest found absolution in the justice system after suing a detective for defamation, alleging she fabricated the rape claim that got him suspended. The year-old lawsuit ended last week with a $125,000 settlement for Perrone — a rare win for an accused Catholic priest who convinced a three-person court advisory panel that he deserved compensation for being defamed.
Specifically, Perrone argued that the church built its case around a detective’s “fabricated” report that he had sodomized an altar boy 40 years earlier, though the now-grown man has said that didn’t happen, according to church and police records. He said the detective also tried to corroborate the sodomy claim by pressuring another former altar boy into making accusations against him, though that now-grown man has said he never saw Perrone harm a child and that the detective was trying to twist his words.
Meanwhile, Perrone still doesn’t have his job, and still no word from the church.
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