FLORIDA
Sun-Sentinel
By Akilah Johnson
Staff Writer
Posted September 7 2005
Retired priest Rev. Neil Doherty has been accused of drugging and raping a young boy while working at a Margate church, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Archdiocese of Miami.
Doherty suggested the Broward County man, who is now 19, try marijuana and alcohol as a way of controlling his aggressive behavior, the lawsuit says. The two met at St. Vincent Catholic Church when the teen, identified only as John Doe No. 22, was about 8, and the priest abused him over the course of several years, the lawsuit said.
According to the suit filed in Broward Circuit Court, Doherty cultivated a relationship with the boy, inviting him to Mass and confession in the rectory.
He gave the boy drugs and alcohol and, after he passed out, sexually abused him, according to the suit, which seeks more than $25 million in damages.