At Least a Dozen Abuse Lawsuits Have Filed against Fr. Doherty
CBS 4
June 25, 2008
http://cbs4.com/local/neil.doherty.sex.2.757059.html
More allegations of sexual abuse have been levied at a retired South Florida priest.
On Wednesday, a Miami law firm announced the filing of two more lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Miami in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of young boys by father Neil Doherty.
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According to the documents filed with the court, Doherty met the two boys in the 1980s while he was performing outreach into the community. The two boys are cousins and relatives of other men who have filed sexual abuse claims against Doherty and the archdiocese. Doherty reportedly used his position to gain the boy's trust and eventually abused them. The alleged abuse occurred in the rectory at St. Mary's Cathedral, in a private home and in his car.
The lawsuits also claim that 1987 the Archdiocese hired investigators to take statements from victims but then covered up the findings that Fr. Doherty was sexually abusing boys.
Doherty continued to work as a priest until 2004.
Doherty has been the subject of a dozen other sexual abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese. According to court records, the Archdiocese of Miami received reports that Fr. Doherty was sexually abusing boys beginning in 1972.
One of the lawsuits claimed Doherty sexually abused a boy starting when the child was 9 during the 1990s at St. Vincent's Church in Margate. The sexual abuse occurred between 1996 and 2000 while the boy was unconscious or semiconscious after binging on drugs and alcohol, according to the lawsuit filed in 2005.
Several of the sex abuse lawsuits filed against Doherty have been settled out of court; terms of those settlements were kept confidential.
Under Florida law, there is no statute of limitations on sexual abuse if the victim is under 12.
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