NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times Picayune
Nov. 13, 2019
By Ramon Antonio Vargas
A new lawsuit filed by a man who alleges he was in his first year at Jesuit High School in the late 1970s when a predator janitor raped him on campus claims the school has used millions of dollars in parent and alumni money to cover abuse-related settlements.
The 19-page suit is the latest in a series of complaints attributing acts of sexual abuse to Peter Modica, a former minor league baseball player who got a job on Jesuit’s groundskeeping staff despite having previously pleaded guilty to molesting two teenagers.
Yet the suit stands out for a couple of reasons. Others who have identified themselves as victims of Modica were not Jesuit students but instead lived in the surrounding neighborhood. And this filing is the first to claim to know how the 172-year-old Catholic prep school has paid out settlements involving abuse allegations blamed on Modica as well as clergy and other religious personnel.
In a statement Wednesday, Jesuit officials said, “We received the (former student’s) claim when it was first brought forward out of pastoral concern and in keeping with school policy. But, as with any claim, we have the responsibility to thoroughly assess the efficacy and legitimacy of the claim.”
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