Judge Clears Portland Diocese of Clergy Abuse Case

San Francisco Chronicle
August 3, 2012

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Judge-clears-Portland-Diocese-of-clergy-abuse-case-3759568.php

A Maine judge has ruled that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland did not conceal prior sex abuse allegations against a priest accused of molesting a young boy in the late 1980s.

The now 38-year-old Augusta man who made the abuse claim said in a lawsuit that the diocese covered up previous sex abuse complaints against the Rev. Raymond Melville. The alleged victim says he was abused as a boy between September 1986 and June 1988.

Judge Donald Marden wrote in a decision released this week that "it is undisputed" that the diocese received no sexual abuse complaints against Melville prior to 1990.

Melville was previously ordered to pay the Augusta man $4.2 million.

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