Diocese of Allentown: We Aren't Liable for Exchange Student's Abuse
By Riley Yates
The Diocese of Allentown is fighting a lawsuit that claims it failed to protect a South Korean teenager who was sexually abused at a dormitory for Pius X exchange students, saying the high school shouldn't be held responsible for what happened inside the privately operated dorm. The girl was 14 and attending Pius X when she was repeatedly sexually assaulted more than four years ago by a tutor at ACE Academy in Pen Argyl, a family-run facility that housed and mentored Korean students attending the Catholic school in Bangor. Her suit charges that the diocese and the school were negligent in allowing the abuse to occur, and that she disclosed it to a priest during confession, but he failed to report it. At a hearing Tuesday, the diocese asked Northampton County Judge Michael Koury Jr. to toss the suit, saying the girl's lawyer hasn't established enough of a connection between the school and ACE Academy. The man who abused the girl, Richard Kim, worked for ACE and was not an "agent or employee" of Pius, said David Dye, an attorney for the church. "There is no allegation that Mr. Kim is associated or connected with the diocese at all," Dye said. In fact, he said, it is unclear whether the school even knew who Kim was. The argument came as the diocese is seeking to have the claims against it, the school and a priest identified only as "Father Tom Doe" dismissed at the preliminary stages. In January, Koury issued such an order , though he permitted the girl's attorney, Howard Myerowitz, to amend his claims to better show the relationship between Pius and ACE. On Tuesday, Myerowitz said there "definitely" was a connection, though he said he remains in the dark about its details, having not yet begun the discovery process. Myerowitz noted that every female Korean exchange student who attended Pius X stayed at the dorm, and he also pointed to immigration paperwork on the girl's behalf, which was filled out by Pius X, and not ACE. "I think the inference is pretty clear that there is some sort of relationship here," Myerowitz told Koury, calling it a "relationship that cries out to be investigated." The 37-year-old Kim, whose parents ran the now-shuttered ACE Academy, is serving 31/2 to 7 years in state prison after admitting in 2012 to sexual assaults that escalated from kissing to fondling to oral sex. Kim's father and mother, Min Taek Kim and Yong Ran Kim, also were charged criminally, accused of trying to silence the victim by getting other students to deny her claims. They pleaded guilty to failing to report suspected abuse, receiving probationary sentences. The parents and their son are also defendants in the civil lawsuit. Tuesday's hearing also touched upon another key claim in the suit: whether the priest who the girl allegedly confided to had a responsibility to report the abuse. Under Pennsylvania law, members of the clergy are required to contact authorities when they have "reasonable cause to suspect" that a child coming to them is a victim. But there is a broad exception for so-called priest-penitent communications, which have privileged confidentiality akin to that between lawyers and their clients. Dye said the priest was prevented by law and by Catholic stricture from disclosing anything he heard in confession. Myerowitz said the girl's statements to the priest weren't meant to be kept secret. "This is a child that is crying out for help," Myerowitz said. "She's telling Father Tom, 'I'm being abused.'" Koury will rule at a later date. In January, the diocese announced that Pius X, along with Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Roseto, will be closing at the end of the school year due to declining enrollments and increasing costs.
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