IOWA
Press-Citizen
By The Associated Press
Seven men who claim they were sexually assaulted by a priest who later became the bishop in Sioux City say they want to settle their cases through mediation rather than the courts.
The seven cases, each naming former Sioux City Bishop Lawrence Soens, were turned over to attorneys for the Davenport Diocese and Soens last week, said Craig Levien, the attorney representing the alleged victims.
They are the latest allegations against Soens, who is already defending himself in state court against lawsuits filed by two other victims. Each accuses Soens of molesting them when they were students as Soens was priest and principal at Regina High School in Iowa City during the mid-1960s.
The seven new cases are similar with the victims claiming they were abused as students at Regina, with each alleging they were summoned to the principal's office by Soens under the pretense of being disciplined for bad behavior, Levien said.