FLORIDA
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
By Linda Trischitta
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
A new civil lawsuit alleges that nearly three decades ago, the Archdiocese of Miami moved a priest who was accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy at a Pembroke Pines parish to a Fort Lauderdale church, where he served until his retirement in 2014.
The archdiocese said the allegations were investigated by law enforcement at that time and the priest was not prosecuted.
The civil lawsuit was filed in Broward County court Tuesday against the archdiocese and Archbishop Thomas Wenski by an unidentified plaintiff called John Doe No. 133.
The archdiocese and its leader are accused of negligence for failing to protect the minor; intentional infliction of emotional distress for allowing the priest to have contact with children; failing to report alleged abuse to authorities and other complaints.
The retired priest, Rev. Harry Ringenberger, now 82, served at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Pembroke Pines in 1989, about the time the abuse is alleged to have happened.
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