Apuron accusers testify on bill that would lift time limit on molestation lawsuits

By Haidee V Eugenio
Pacific Daily News
June 27, 2016

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2016/06/27/apuron-accusers-testify-bill-would-lift-time-limit-molestation-lawsuits/86422138/

Doris Concepcion, center, mother of the late Joseph 'Sonny' Quinata, delivers an emotional testimony during a public hearing at the Guam Legislature on Monday, June 27. Photo by Rick Cruz

Individuals who recently accused Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron of sexually molesting them when they were altar boys in Agat in the 1970s testified Monday in favor of a bill lifting time limits on filing lawsuits against child molesters.

Another individual, Jonathan Diaz, also addressed senators at the Guam Legislature in Hagåtña, and said a seminarian who later became a priest sexually abused him when he was 13 and 16 years old. Diaz said nobody believed him when he came forward in 1991.

“You didn’t believe me. Believe them,” Diaz told senators, while pointing to the four other accusers of Apuron seated in the public hearing room of the Legislature.

Apuron hasn’t been charged with any crime.

Arizona resident Walter G. Denton, who accused Apuron of “raping” him, flew back to Guam from the mainland on Sunday just to testify in favor of Bill 326-33.

“Give us Agat boys a chance to achieve some measure of justice and closure in our lives,” he said.

Doris Y. Concepcion, another Arizona resident who said her son told her before he died 11 years ago that Apuron molested him, also testified in favor of the bill, whose main author is Sen. Frank Blas Jr.

“If you pass this bill, I want to take Apuron to court ... so the truth will come out,” said Concepcion, an Arizona resident who also flew to Guam. The ashes of her son, Joseph “Sonny” Quinata, was recently laid to rest at the Guam Veterans Cemetery, 11 years after he died.

Roland Sondia, who said Apuron molested him when he was 15, said no amount of time should limit any victim of child sex abuse to file charges. Sondia works at the Pacific Daily News as an information technology manager.

Roy Quintanilla, now a Hawaii resident who also said he was molested by Apuron when he was 12 years old in Agat, had his written testimony read by his niece, Sharleen Santos-Bamba.

“Is it fair that a sexual predator be allowed to get away with molesting children because they’re protected by statutes of limitations? Please do the right thing and lift or abolish the statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse,” Quintanilla said in his written testimony.

Sen. Frank Aguon Jr., chairman of the Guam U.S. Military Relocation, Public Safety and Judiciary committee, whose members listened to Monday’s testimony, said his committee will compile all testimony received.

Guam lawmakers in the past temporarily gave victims of child sexual abuse a two-year limit to file a lawsuit, and that window has closed.

This bill would not restrict the filing of a lawsuit against a child sex abuser or child molester who committed the act before this bill would become law, according to Blas, the bill's author.

“There is no restriction on retroactive cases,” he previously said.