PUEBLO (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com
POSTED: 3:05 pm MDT September 21, 2005
UPDATED: 5:55 pm MDT September 21, 2005
PUEBLO, Colo. -- Another lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pueblo was announced Wednesday accusing a former Catholic high school teacher of sexually assaulting a former student in the 1960s, the plaintiff's lawyer said.
Attorney Jeffrey Herman announced the lawsuit in Pueblo a day after three other clients filed lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Denver. Those suits alleged two former priests sexually abused three men starting in the 1960s, and that the archdiocese continued allowing the priests to practice though it knew of abuse allegations.
The lawsuit announced Wednesday was by Tom Monroe, 52, of Pueblo, and listed allegations against William Mueller, former band director at the now-closed Roncalli High School. Mueller was not named as a defendant.
The suit said Mueller told Monroe, then a sophomore, during private tutoring sessions in the school band room that Monroe would play trombone better in the nude. The suit alleges Mueller masturbated and fondled Monroe on about five occasions.
Monroe complained to guidance counselor Jose Montoya in 1968, but Mueller was not disciplined, Herman said. Mueller left Roncalli in 1971. Herman said he was told Montoya is now deceased.
Posted by kshaw at September 21, 2005 07:41 PM