PENSACOLA (FL)
News4Jax
POSTED: 7:16 am EDT May 25, 2005
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- A 49-year-old man sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee and a now-retired priest Tuesday, saying that 34 years ago the priest tried to molest him in a Georgia motel room.
The Florida Circuit Court suit accuses Monsignor Richard Bowles of disrobing and demanding oral sex from Paul Tugwell, then 15, during a 1971 trip to Callaway Gardens at Pine Mountain, Ga. Tugwell said he refused Bowles request.
The suit also alleges that diocese officials failed to report the matter to police when Tugwell's parents complained and transferred Bowles from one parish to another.