By Brian Hamacher
NBC Miami
April 27, 2011
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Lawsuit-Claims-Sex-Abuse-at-Hands-of-Miami-Priest-120792879.html
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A deceased Catholic priest who has a street in Miami named for him is the subject of a shocking new sex abuse lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Miami, accuses Father Juan Ramon O'Farrill of sexually abusing Alejandro Mora, who was 16 years old at the time, while he was a priest at St. Michael the Archangel parish in the 1980s.
""I was seeking help when I came to father O'Farrill and what I got was quite the opposite," Mora said at a press conference.
The Archdiocese of Miami released a statement in response to allegations stating its commitment to supporting victims who come forward with allegations of abuse.
Mora was born in Nicaragua and immigrated to Miami in 1988, and came from a devout family and served as an altar boy.
According to Jeffrey Herman, Mora's attorney, O'Farrill was approached by the boy because he wanted to discuss his abuse at the hands of a priest in Nicaragua.
O'Farrill allegedly had Mora come to a counseling session at the rectory at St. Michael, where he gave the boy orange juice laced with liquor before he assaulted him.
The lawsuit claims the archdiocese "knew or should have known" that O'Farrill “sexually abused other boys” but “took no action against (him) and continued to give him unfettered access to young boys."
O'Farrill, who died in 1994, has a stretch of road on Northeast 2nd St. near 1st Ave. named after him.
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