By Dennis Romero
LA Weekly
May 18, 2010
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/city-news/lawsuit-mohony-cover-up/
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| Cardinal Roger Mahony. |
A new lawsuit against the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles alleges that Cardinal Roger Mahony built a "conspiracy of silence" that kept church officials addressing claims that a parishioner who was 12 at the time was being molested regularly.
The victim, now 27, states in the suit that he was molested for nearly a decade by a priest who is now behind bars. The suit names the father as well as Mahony and the archdiocese. It asks for unspecified damages as a result of the alleged sexual battery and subsequent cover-up.
The priest was identified as Michael Baker -- who's serving 10 years behind bars for molestation -- and the archdiocese seemed to put all of the blame in the situation on him.
"If there is another victim of Michael Baker, we will extend our pastoral outreach to that person,'' archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said. "Michael Baker lied to his archbishop and to the family members of those he abused, and we're continuing to see the consequences of those deceptions.''
The suit alleges that Baker traveled with the victim to Carlsbad and Palm Springs in order to molest him when he was a boy.
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