CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant
BY KELLY GLISTA, Kglista@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
7:46 p.m. EST, December 5, 2013
CHESHIRE — The Legionaries of Christ, a religious order plagued in the late 1990s and early 2000s by allegations of sexual abuse against its founder, announced on Thursday that an independent investigation had revealed “significant evidence” of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest who served at the order’s Cheshire seminary.
The allegation against Fr. William Izquierdo surfaced in July 2012, and involved abuse that took place while Izquierdo served as an instructor of novices in the Cheshire seminary, a position he held from 1982 to 1994, according to a letter from the Legion’s North American territorial director Fr. Luis Garza.
The Legion commissioned Praesidium Inc., a firm that specializes in abuse risk management, to do an independent investigation of the allegations, the letter states. That investigation concluded in August and was reviewed by the Legion’s North American review board in October.
“We have no reason to doubt that sexual abuse with a minor actually occurred,” Garza wrote in his letter.
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