POWELL (OH)
Columbus Dispatch [Columbus OH]
February 20, 2025
By Danae King
When Chris Graham slides his tablet across the table to show lawmakers the police report detailing his rape, he sees their faces change.
That’s because in the report, there’s the account of someone who remembers seeing the perpetrator, a Catholic priest, chasing after a 14-year-old Graham and then grabbing him and trying to get him to go back into a private room at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Powell.
It’s a powerful corroboration of his abuse in 1997 by the late Rev. Raymond Lavelle, Graham has found — as is the fact that the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus both declared the allegation credible.
Now, he’s using it to raise awareness about clergy sexual abuse of minors and the Ohio laws that keep people like him from seeking justice.
‘There’s no escape’: Memories of being raped by Catholic priest haunt Columbus man
“My goal is simple,” said Graham, now 39 and living in Westerville. “I’m going to change these laws, and I’m going to do it by befriending the right people, and I’m going to tell them my story so they know someone who’s been touched by this.”
Graham is referring to Ohio’s laws regarding victims of child sexual abuse, including statutes of limitations for reporting and damages caps.
The Ohio civil statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse is capped at age 30 and its criminal statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse is capped at age 43, with another five years granted if DNA is found within 25 years.
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And no matter what a jury grants a victim, state law dictates that they can only be awarded $250,000 in damages, what many say is barely — if even — enough to cover attorney’s fees. The state’s damages cap, put in place during tort reform in 2005, applies to personal injury cases.
The civil statute of limitations, and the fact that Graham’s abuser is dead, have kept him from being able to pursue civil or criminal charges. But he would sue the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus or his abuser if he could.
“The right time for justice is always now,” Graham said. “I hope Ohio gets with the times.”