Owego Priest Among 8 Accused by Attorney of Sexually Abusing Children

By Michael Schwartz
WBNG
June 8, 2018

http://www.wbng.com/story/38377627/owego-priest-among-8-accused-by-attorney-of-sexually-abusing-children

A non-profit organization which aims to help victims of sexual abuse is accusing eight Diocese of Rochester priests of sexually abusing children. One of those priests serves in Owego.

According to Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Father Thomas Valenti allegedly sexually abused his client, who is now in his late fifties, when he was a teen. Garabedian said his client was 15 years old when the abuse started in 1975, while Valenti worked at St. Mary's of the Lake Church in Ontario, New York.

"He abused my client as a deacon, but in one of those years he became a priest so he was a deacon and a priest when he sexually abused my client," claimed Garabedian