ERIE (PA)
Erie News Now
June 18, 2019
Bottlinger recently rejected a $680,000 compensation fund payment from the Buffalo Diocese. He is filing suit because, in his own words, “it is the right thing to do.”
A victim who claims he was sexually abused by a priest in the Buffalo Diocese is moving forward with a lawsuit against the diocese and Erie Bishop Emeritus Donald Trautman for not doing enough to stop the abuse, attorneys announced Tuesday afternoon.
The victim – James Bottlinger, 50 – spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday. Bottlinger said he was abused while in high school in the 1980s by Father Michael Freeman at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Lancaster, NY. Freeman is now deceased.
Bottlinger recently rejected a $680,000 compensation fund payment from the Buffalo Diocese. He is filing suit because, in his own words, “it is the right thing to do.”
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