MINNESOTA
Fox 9
It’s a case that dates back to the early 1970s, but the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is settling a suit with a 54-year-old man who claims Father Tom Stitts sexually abused him while being shuffled through metro parishes.
“This is a bittersweet day,” said Leander James, victim’s attorney. “Our client was sexually abused and his mother silenced. After 43 years, his abuser’s employer has finally heard him, his mother and acknowledged his injury. It’s a first step.”
It took more than 40 years for the man known only as John Doe 100 to get the resolution he’d hoped for. On Wednesday, he and his mother intend to emerge from that confidentiality to speak publicly about the case with their attorneys.
“I need to speak up,” John Doe 100 said. “I’m no longer afraid.”
Seated next to his mother, Yvonne, at a Wednesday afternoon press conference, he announced, “My name is Jon Jaker, and I am a survivor, and today, we won a little bit back.”
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