DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
07:13 PM CDT on Friday, July 29, 2005
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Catholic Diocese soon will be paying millions more dollars to sexual abuse victims.
This time, however, the abusers in question are former child-care workers, not priests. But otherwise much is familiar: Plaintiffs say church officials ignored "red flags" about suspicious employees, while the defense says those individuals long managed to fool everyone around them.
Now, to avoid the risks of trying lawsuits, the diocese has agreed to pay a total of $2.6 million to three victims of Julio A. Marcos, who worked at St. Pius X's child-care center for much of the 1990s and is now serving a life term in prison.
Plaintiffs' attorneys say they expect to reach similar settlements soon for three more girls Mr. Marcos abused at the Far East Dallas church.
As part of the deals, diocesan officials admit no wrongdoing. Their attorney, Randy Mathis, declined to comment Friday.