NEW YORK
New York Daily News
By ANGELA MOSCONI
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
A Catholic priest who once headed a prominent Greenwich Village church is being sued for allegedly raping a former parishioner half his age.
In a civil suit filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court, Leslie Fray, now 51, claimed the Rev. Joseph Cogo "raped, sexually attacked and harassed" her when she was a new Catholic convert attending Our Lady of Pompei Church in the late 1970s.
"This ruined my life," said Fray, who had just graduated from Yale at the time of the alleged attacks. "I was a mute for all these years. I couldn't talk. I couldn't walk. I'm seeking $27 million - $1 million for each year that I suffered."
Cogo, now 71, was removed from the church last year amid the allegations and currently heads a church in Caracas.
"We stand by those who defend us," Cogo said from Venezuela. "It's a shame. It really is a shame."
He referred all other questions to his lawyer.