By Jennie Rodriguez
The Record
December 16, 2010
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101216/A_NEWS09/12160325
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| Oliver O'Grady |
STOCKTON - Several months before defrocked priest Oliver O'Grady was arrested Friday in Ireland on child pornography charges, the Diocese of Stockton settled yet another lawsuit from O'Grady's sexual abuse of children.
A brother and sister, who say O'Grady sexually abused them when they were students at Presentation Catholic School in Stockton during the early 1980s, received a $2 million settlement from the diocese in July.
"Father O'Grady had a practice of taking them ... into his office and abusing them on church grounds," said Anthony Demarco, the Beverly Hills attorney who represented the siblings. "This is among the most horrific (cases) that I had ever heard of. And it's had an effect in every aspect of their lives since."
Demarco said the brother and sister, identified in court documents as John JK Doe and Jane LA Doe, are now in their 30s and still live in San Joaquin County.
O'Grady had been arrested Friday at a hostel in Dublin after police found pornographic images and video of thousands of children on his computer. O'Grady, 65, has been granted bail.
O'Grady, an admitted pedophile, was convicted in 1994 in San Joaquin County for molesting two boys. He served seven years in prison, and was deported to Ireland after his release in 2000.
O'Grady, who talks about sex crimes he committed in the award-winning 2006 documentary "Deliver Us from Evil," was a priest with the Stockton diocese from 1971 until his arrest in 1993.
He had presided at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Lodi, Church of the Presentation in Stockton, and other churches in the area.
In the wake of the criminal conviction, the diocese was accused of covering up at least two complaints made to the church by parents of O'Grady's victims and instead promoting the now-disgraced priest.
"There is a tremendous amount of anger," Demarco said. "As much of a monster as O'Grady was, there were a multitude of warnings made against him before (his clients) were ever abused. But I think by coming forward and doing something as adults now, that has given them some solace."
Since the controversy surfaced, the diocese has spent millions settling more than two dozen civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse at the hands of O'Grady.
The diocese issued a statement about the latest.
"On June 16, 2010, the Diocese of Stockton resolved two outstanding lawsuits regarding childhood sex abuse by Oliver O'Grady. The lawsuits were settled jointly for a total of $2 million. Of this sum, the diocese paid $664,667.00. The remainder of the settlement was paid from insurance proceeds. The diocese continues to assist in healing the victims of clergy sexual abuse."
Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com.
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