GUAM
Pacific News Center
Written by Clynt Ridgell
Flanked by attorney David Lujan and his family members Roy Taitague Quintanilla held a mini-press conference in front of the entrance to the Chancery office in Agana Heights.
Guam – A 52 year old man has stepped forward with a serious allegation saying that Archbishop Anthony Apuron molested him when he was 12 years old.
“My name is Roy Taitague Quintanilla. I was sexually abused by Anthony Sablan Apuron forty years ago,” said the alleged victim.
In front of a small podium at the entrance of the Archdiocese’s Chancery Office in Agana Heights Roy Taitague Quintanilla read from a letter he wrote directly to the Archbishop of Guam.
“Dear Archbishop Apuron. When I was twelve years old and an altar boy you molested me when you were the pastor of Agat. After a movie you drove all of the altar boys home. I was the last of the altar boys in the van. I thought you were going to take me home like the others but instead you asked if I could sleep at your house the priest house so I could help you at the church in the morning. You insisted I sleep in your bedroom even though I told you I wanted to sleep in the living room. I felt so uncomfortable being alone with you in your bedroom. Moments later I felt your hand squeeze my penis and testicles through my pants. I was trying my best to push your hand away it was painful. I used both hands and my legs to try and block you from touching me and squeezing my private parts because it was painful and extremely uncomfortable. I remember I didn’t sleep that night. I was too afraid to move because I thought you would do more things to me. I just curled up I cried then and I’ve never stopped crying,” said Quintanilla.
Quintanilla says he told father Jack Nilan about the alleged incident before telling anyone else but it wasn’t made clear exactly when he told Father Nilan or when he told others about the alleged incident.
“I hope someday you will be sorry for what you did to me. I am still trying to forgive you. It’s been a long time since this tragic experience and it feels like it just happened yesterday. I want closure,” said Quintanilla adding, “I have been silent for 40 years. Mainly because I thought all this time I was your only victim and because I was embarrassed, humiliated, degraded and terribly confused about what to do. I thought if I said anything that people would not believe me or that people would retaliate against me for coming forward. Archbishop Apuron I will not be silent anymore,”
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