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  Lawsuit Filed against Priest
John Doe 10' Claims Sex Abuse

By Jean Torkelson
Rocky Mountain News [Denver]
April 17, 2007

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5488138,00.html

An Ohio man known as John Doe 10 on Monday became the first person to file a civil lawsuit against priest Timothy Evans, a convicted sex offender, and the Archdiocese of Denver.

Within the past three weeks, Evans has been convicted twice of sexual assault while serving as a priest. One of the cases involved a Fort Collins parish and a victim who now lives in Ohio.

Zachary Warzel, one of the attorneys for John Doe 10, said he could not comment on whether that was the same man who filed Monday's civil suit.

The civil case filed in Denver District Court alleges that Evans molested the plaintiff in the late 1990s, when the alleged victim was 17 years old and participating in church activities at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Fort Collins.

The suit alleges that when the plaintiff took his allegations to the Archdiocese in 2004, church representatives said while the matter would be reported to police, "what Father Evans did to him was not a crime."

The suit accuses the archdiocese of intentionally concealing Evans' conduct.

The archdiocese's spokespersons could not be reached for comment.

Evans, 44, became the first priest to be convicted in Colorado since a national clergy sex scandal surfaced in 2002. A Larimer County jury found Evans guilty of sexual assault against the 17-year-old boy at the Fort Collins parish.

Evans was convicted last week of assault against a different 17-year-old boy at Spirit of Christ Church in Arvada.

Evans will be sentenced in those cases at the end of May. In the Fort Collins case, he faces a mandatory sentence of 10 years to life in prison.

 
 

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