WASHINGTON
Yakima Herald-Republic
By Donald W. Meyers / Yakima Herald-Republic
dmeyers@yakimaherald.com
YAKIMA, Wash. — Missing records, disputed accounts of an event 15 years ago and its aftereffects all surfaced Monday on the opening day of hearings in a $3 million lawsuit by a man who said he was raped by a deacon with the Catholic Diocese of Yakima.
In opening arguments in U.S. District Court, attorney Bryan D. Smith said his client had been a teenager with a promising academic and athletic future before reporting he’d been raped by church deacon Aaron Ramirez in a trailer on the grounds of Zillah’s Resurrection Catholic Church.
Smith said the man, identified in court records as John Doe, was 17 years old and had overcome childhood physical and sexual abuse, was a star wrestler, a cross-country runner and second in command of his high school’s junior ROTC.
But Smith said the 1999 incident started a downward spiral into addiction as the young man lost interest in school and athletics, became suicidal and was later discharged from Marine Corps boot camp for medical reasons.
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