MANATEE (FL)
Bradenton Herald
RICHARD DYMOND
Herald Staff Writer
Joseph Gilpin's accuser from Maine has been divorced three times, is alienated from his one child, is hooked on drugs and suffers from depression and anxiety, his attorney said.
"He's had anything but a normal life," said Irwin Zalkin, a partner in the San Diego law firm Zalkin & Zimmer LLP. Zalkin declined to reveal the identity of his client, who he said is now in his 50s and working as a mechanic.
But Zalkin and his client contend that all his emotional problems stem from sexual encounters with Gilpin in the 1960s.
Zalkin & Zimmer handles roughly 200 clergy sexual abuse cases a year, the attorney said.
"He is very typical of what children experience," Zalkin said. "He has a difficulty with sexual identity and very difficult times in relationships. His life was destroyed. . . . He's had a life of substance abuse and multiple marriage."
Posted by kshaw at February 2, 2005 06:48 AM