Sex-abuse victim’s family sues Sylmar Catholic school, Archdiocese of Los Angeles

By Kelly Goff
Los Angeles Daily News
February 18, 2014

http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20140218/sex-abuse-victims-family-sues-sylmar-catholic-school-archdiocese-of-los-angeles

The family of a teenage girl sexually abused by a former softball coach at a Catholic school in Sylmar has filed a lawsuit naming the school, the archbishop and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, alleging they failed to protect students by not performing background checks on its volunteers.

Epifanio Nevarez, 59, pleaded no contest in September to lewd acts with a child under the age of 14 after the 13-year-old girl reported the abuse an older sibling. She said he had pressured her to take part in a sex club and that there were multiple encounters over a five-month period at Nevarez’s Canyon Country home.

At the time of his arrest, Nevarez was a volunteer softball coach at St. Didacus School. He was sentenced to six years in prison and will register as a sex offender upon his release.

“Our client feels that the school and the archdiocese failed to protect her. They didn’t vet this volunteer, and this was allowed to go on for five months,” said attorney Michael Carrillo, who is representing the girl’s family.

“What we want is for the archdiocese and the school to enact a policy where they do background checks on everyone, including the volunteers, who come on to the campus,” Carrillo said.

He also referenced the 1995 disappearance of Nevarez’s wife and the man’s questioning by police at the time. “We think they would have found something if they’d done a check,” he said.

At the time of Nevarez’s arrest, the archdiocese said that as a volunteer he would never be supervising children alone, and thus a background check was not needed.

All volunteers, including parents, are subject to background checks at local public schools. Los Angeles Unified School District requires fingerprinting, health checks and an application and certification process.

The archdiocese issued a statement in March, saying it would never allow anyone with previous allegations of child abuse to work with children at its schools and noting that Nevarez was the designated parent representative for his grandchildren, who were students at the school.

“Archdiocesan policy does not allow anyone with a known credible allegation of abuse of a minor to serve or volunteer in any ministry,” the statement said. “The safety and protection of children and young people is our utmost priority.”

A spokeswoman reached Tuesday reiterated that the archdiocese is taking the matter seriously.