ARIZONA
Arizona Daily Star
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Alonso Hernandez is clear about his goals: to learn automotive repair, rent his own apartment and permanently shed the devastating secret that haunted him through 10 years of childhood.
Now that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's Chapter 11 bankruptcy case is officially over, Hernandez, 21, is about to get some help in moving forward - a $600,000 settlement from the diocese that he's scheduled to receive, minus legal fees, next month.
The settlement amount could increase to nearly $1 million, as more payments from the bankruptcy fund are expected to be disbursed over the next few years.
"I'm going to quit work and start at school right away," said Hernandez, a machinery maintenance worker. "I've already had a couple of months of therapy, so I'm ready now to move on. I won't have to worry about getting a call about going to court and retelling everything. There's no reason I have to think about it anymore."
Hernandez, now living in Salinas, Calif., is one of five young men who were molested as children by a Yuma Catholic priest and will each receive an initial disbursement of $600,000. That's the largest initial payment anyone is getting from an estimated $22.3 million settlement pool the diocese set up as part of its Chapter 11 reorganization.