FLORIDA
Tampa Bay Times
Laura C. Morel, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA — A lawsuit claiming that a former student of the now-defunct Mary Help of Christians School was sexually abused by a teacher in the 1970s was filed in Hillsborough Circuit Court on Tuesday.
The case is the latest in a string of several lawsuits filed in the last decade alleging sexual abuse against Mary Help students. The lawsuit names the Salesians of Don Bosco, a religious order of brothers that dedicate their lives to helping children, which ran the boarding school until it closed in 2006.
According to the 26-page complaint, the victim, identified only as John Doe, started attending the boarding school at age 12 in 1976 when he met brother John Casula, the auto shop instructor.
“He was from a single parent family that lived in a very rough neighborhood in Tampa,” the complaint says. “His mother worked long hours and boarded him at the school for his safety, education, and religious training.”
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