JAMAICA (NY)
Queens Daily Eagle

December 4, 2020

By David Brand

A prominent Queens priest known for his work with drug users and victims of elder abuse has been accused of sexually abusing a homeless teen for two years while working at churches in Belle Harbor and Broad Channel in the early 1970s.

Retired priest Coleman Costello was sued Tuesday in Queens Supreme Court under the state’s Child Victims Act. The lawsuit charges the Brooklyn Diocese, which oversees Queens Catholic institutions, of protecting Costello despite knowing about the abuse.

Plaintiff C. Evan Manderson, 63, says Costello began sexually abusing him when he was a homeless high school freshman in 1971. At the time, Costello was working at St. Francis de Sales church in Belle Harbor. He was running youth programs at a Rockaway Beach rec center when he first encountered Manderson and began showing him affection, a process known…