CALIFORNIA
The Orange County Register
By GREG HARDESTY / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Thousands of pages of files on nine Roman Catholic priests who settled a high-profile clergy abuse lawsuits six years ago were made public Wednesday, providing a detailed look at accusations as well as instances when priests were allowed to interact with children despite their superiors knowing about the allegations.
Two of the former priests whose histories are detailed in the documents are Gus Krumm and Gary Pacheco, both defrocked Franciscan priests who served at Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church in Huntington Beach in separate assignments covering most years from the mid-1970s through the late 1990s.
Monsignor Michael Harris, former principal of both Mater Dei and Santa Margarita Catholic high schools, also turns up in the documents, in two previously sealed police reports.
Harris, the founding principal of Santa Margarita Catholic High School, was a defendant in a landmark lawsuit settled for $5.2 million in 2001 that marked the beginning of a national story involving the Roman Catholic Church and clergy sexual abuse.
A court ordered the release of the documents as part of a 2006 settlement between the Franciscan Friars of California and 25 clergy-abuse plaintiffs who sued Krumm, Pacheco and seven other friars.
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