OREGON
Statesman Journal
The Associated Press
August 18, 2005
A man whose sexual-abuse claim against the Archdiocese of Portland was scheduled for mediation later this month shot himself to death, the third suicide among sexual-abuse plaintiffs since December.
Larry Lynn Craven, 49, of Marion County had been identified in court records only as L.C. or John Doe. He died July 21, according to the county's vital statistics office.
Craven had sought more than $2 million in his claim against the archdiocese. He accused the Rev. John MacNaughton of molesting him in 1967. He was one of 66 claimants now in mediation with the archdiocese.
The death prompted Craven's lawyer, Daniel Gatti, to ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court the let the archdiocese pay for counseling for any claimants who need emergency counseling.
Gatti said the archdiocese, before its July 2004 bankruptcy filing, provided 10 weeks of free counseling to people with credible claims of abuse.
However, his legal filing states, the archdiocese rightfully stopped making payments for counseling services because it needed the bankruptcy court's permission to make certain expenditures.