The Coloradoan
April 11, 2008
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS01/804110337/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
DENVER - An attorney says the Archdiocese of Denver has agreed to pay $300,000 and write letters of apology to settle a lawsuit accusing a Fort Collins priest of molesting a teenager 10 years ago.
Attorney Jeff Anderson said Thursday his client, 26-year-old Nick Gerber of Ohio, was molested by Timothy Evans, a former parish priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Fort Collins and another parish in Arvada who was convicted last year of sexual assault.
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Evans, who left St. Elizabeth in 2002 and was removed from the priesthood in 2003, is serving a term of 14 years to life.
Archdiocese officials confirmed the lawsuit was settled but have not discussed the terms.
In interviews with the Coloradoan last year, Gerber and Dana Rotkovich, 33, two of the four victims who testified against Evans at his 2007 trial, said redemption would only come when the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver opened up about what the church knew and did to protect Evans.
Gerber told the Coloradoan at the time the suit was, in part, to keep the spotlight on what Evans did to him.
"This civil suit is nothing more than a way to bring more attention to this," Gerber said. "And get some sort of compensation for the eight years of my life I have lost due to this man's actions."
Evans was convicted in March 2007 and sentenced to 14 years to life in prison for molesting Gerber in 1998 and 1999 while Evans was a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Gerber was a 17-year-old parishioner. He was given at least four more years after being convicted on a similar charge in Jefferson County.
"I may love recklessly and foolishly," he said at his sentencing, "but I love unconditionally."
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