Lawsuit against Archdiocese Alleges More Abuse at Coral Springs School

By Rafael Olmeda
Sun Sentinel
June 18, 2013

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-cala-archdiocese-lawsuit-20130618,0,2785673.story

Attorney Jeffrey Herman watches as Kayla Repan reads a statement from the mother of a boy who is accusing former St. Andrew Catholic School music teacher Miguel Cala of molestation. Herman is suing the Archdiocese of Miami on behalf of the boy and his family.

A new lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami accuses the pastor of a Coral Springs K-12 school of looking the other way while a young boy complained he was being molested by a music teacher.

Miguel Cala, 40, is already serving a 23-year prison term after pleading no contest to lewd and lascivious molestation charges last year. But the lawsuit filed Monday by Miami attorney Jeffrey Herman outlines new allegations against the convicted pedophile.

"We are alleging that this boy was raped and sodomized by Miguel Cala in the school at St. Andrew [Catholic School in Coral Springs], and also that Father George Puthusseril, who was the pastor of St. Andrew, was aware that this boy was being sexually abused by Miguel Cala," Herman said at a news conference Tuesday.

The archdiocese denied the allegations related to Puthusseril.

"Father Puthusseril has testified that he had no knowledge of any sexual abuse by Mr. Cala during the teacher's tenure at St. Andrew, and that he never witnessed any such behavior against any student from or at St. Andrew," archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross-Agosta said in a statement issued Tuesday. "Today, upon learning about the lawsuit, Father reiterated that 'everything said in the lawsuit about knowledge on my part about any abuse is false.'"

No criminal charges have been filed. Herman said the allegations came to light within the past few months.

Cala was a teacher at St. Andrew for more than a decade before he was arrested in 2010 and charged with molesting pre-teen boys he was tutoring at his home. His no-contest plea last Sept. 18 accepted the legal consequences of a conviction without formally admitting guilt.

Herman has filed four lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Miami accusing the church of doing too little to stop Cala after officials knew about the abuse allegations. He has also filed dozens of sex abuse lawsuits against the church throughout South Florida.

The latest victim is now 12 years old, and the abuse started while he was in kindergarten in 2006, according to the lawsuit. It is the first lawsuit to allege abuse on the school grounds, and the first to accuse the church's head pastor of explicitly knowing what was going on.

"The boy is telling us that on several occasions, Father George spoke to him and told him to stay away from Miguel Cala, had witnessed this boy being abused by Miguel Cala, and told the boy not to tell his parents what was going on," Herman said.

The victim's mother, identified in court papers only as Mother Doe 101, issued a statement saying her family is enraged.

"We trusted our son was safe at St. Andrew Catholic School," she said. "Instead, the staff put our son in harm's way, covered up the abuse and allowed it to continue for many years."

The boy stopped attending St. Andrew in 2010.

Contact: raolmeda@tribune.com