MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times
By David Unze
dunze@stcloudtimes.com
A former parishioner has sued St. Cloud Diocese and former priest Donald Rieder, accusing him of sexually abusing her in 1973.
The allegations in a civil complaint filed in Stearns County District Court first became public in December 2002 when another victim sued Rieder. That case resulted in a $500,000 settlement to the victim, who accused Rieder of abusing her in the early 1990s while she was a parishioner at St. John Cantius Church in St. Cloud.
The allegations in the new lawsuit, filed by a woman identified in court papers as Jane Doe 54, concern abuse the victim said happened in 1973 while Rieder was pastor at St. Louis Church in Paynesville. The allegations are old enough they fall outside the statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims in criminal court.
But the victim's lawyer accused the diocese of committing "fraudulent concealment" of information from the victim about Rieder. That concealment should extend the statute of limitations, Jeff Anderson said. Had the diocese told Jane Doe 54 or her family about a sexual abuse complaint it had received in the early 1960s about Rieder, Jane Doe 54 "would have acted differently," the complaint said.