Archdiocese Still Argues Suit Should Be Tossed, Citing Statute of Limitations
TheIndyChannel.com
December 17, 2007
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/14877305/detail.html
INDIANAPOLIS -- An attorney for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis acknowledged in court Monday that one of its priests "was a child molester and serial predator" of young boys.
Attorney Jay Mercer said that to a judge as he argued that the statute of limitations has run out on a fraud claim charging that the archdiocese deceived an Indianapolis parish that Harry Monroe was suited to minister to young boys.
Monroe has been named in 13 cases that accuse him of molesting boys between 1974 and 1984 at a series of parishes in Indianapolis, Terre Haute and, finally, in remote Perry County along the Ohio River.
 |
"Harry Monroe was a child molester and a serial predator who committed some heinous crimes against young boys," Mercer said in oral arguments for a summary judgment throwing out the fraud claim on grounds the six-year statute of limitations has run out.
Monroe has given a deposition in which he admitted lewd behavior or sex acts with at least five boys. He did not attend Monday's hearing and could not be located for comment. He is believed to reside in or near Nashville, Tenn.
Marion Superior Court Judge David Shaheed did not rule immediately on the motion for summary judgment.
The charge of fraud is the only count remaining in a lawsuit in which a plaintiff identified only as John Doe said he was 10 when Monroe began molesting him in 1977 at the now closed St. Catherine Parish in Indianapolis. The plaintiff now is in his 40s.
At stake in most of the lawsuits is the contention by plaintiffs' attorney Patrick Noaker that the Archdiocese of Indianapolis should be held liable for fraud for reassigning Monroe to different parishes after it learned of the molesting allegations against him. The statute of limitations for child molesting has run out in the cases.
"This case is a case where they found out he was molesting kids at one parish and transferred him to another parish, and we have documentary proof of that," Noaker told reporters after the hearing.
The plaintiff in Monday's case told 6News' Derrik Thomas he believes the archdiocese knew about complaints against Monroe but kept assigning him to different parishes.
"It's made me very, very angry to know the facts -- know how much they knew -- and they kept plopping him around, letting him do it to other kids. It's amazing," the plaintiff said on condition of anonymity.
Though the archdiocese's lawyers are arguing the case should be thrown out because it is past the statute of limitations, Mercer told reporters Monday that the archdiocese wants to pay medical and therapy expenses for anyone abused by an archdiocese employee.
"We ask that anyone who has suffered childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a priest or any employee of the archdiocese come forward and allow us to assist them with a pastoral response," Mercer said.
The plaintiff told 6News that the offer is "way too little, way too late."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.