CHICAGO (IL)
Sun-Times
January 21, 2019
By Mitch Dudek
The attorney representing a Catholic priest who is accused of sexual abuse during his time as head of a facility in Des Plaines that cared for troubled kids called the allegations “ridiculous.”
Attorney Frank DiFranco said Rev. John Smyth “adamantly denies” the allegations that he molested two boys in his office while head of Maryville Academy.
“It never happened. It’s a lie. The stuff that was alleged is nonsense,” he told the Sun-Times on Monday.
“You’ve got this man who’s never been accused of anything … and then you’ve got two convicted felons who concoct a story in prison of how they were abused,” DiFranco said. “It’s ridiculous, especially when you consider the thousands and thousands of kids who went through Maryville.”
Jeanine Stevens — the attorney representing the two accusers, who are both in their 30s and but were ages 13 and 14 when they were allegedly abused — said it’s common for traumatic events to take years to bubble to the surface.
“People spend their lives burying this kind of thing. People don’t concoct these stories. They feel humiliation and shame,” she said.
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