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	Trials near in School's Abuse Case Richmond: Lawsuits Claim Catholic Academy Covered up Teachers' Sexual Abuse By Bruce Gerstman and Chris Metinko Contra Costa Times [California] June 4, 2006 http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/ news/local/states/california/14739090.htm Two lawsuits filed by former students of Salesian High School in Richmond alleging sexual abuse and a cover up in the 1970s are headed for trial in East Bay courts this month. One suit, filed in March in Alameda County Superior Court, alleges that a teacher at the Catholic High School, who is not a member of the Salesian order, molested and sexually abused a student in 1978. The other, filed in 2003 in Contra Costa Superior Court, alleges sexual abuse of a student by a priest during a two-year period. "The church is where you should be able to go for comfort and when you're in crisis," said John Manly, who is representing a 45-year-old Southern California man who alleges he was sexually abused at the high school by his then-history teacher. "But that's not what happened. This isn't about money. These people need to be sued." Father David Purdy, who heads the Salesian order in San Francisco, said, "We're satisfied letting the courts take care of this matter." The plaintiff in the Alameda County case, identified as John P.J. Doe, alleges that the teacher, identified only as Doe 5, had previously been accused of sexual acts with a minor, which Salesian High School officials knew but did nothing about. "It's pretty hard to comprehend how a high school could do something like this," Manly said. The victim claims he has psychological and emotional problems, many of which he did not recognize until he got older, Manley said. "It's not unusual for people who were abused to realize later in life how it really affected them," Manly said. "It's such a traumatic experience, it takes time to sink in." The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, goes to trial Monday in Alameda County Superior Court. In the second lawsuit, scheduled to go to trial June 19 in Contra Costa Superior Court, a Martinez man alleges that a priest sexually abused him while he was a student at Salesian between 1969 and 1971. When he complained, according to the suit, school authorities told him to keep quiet. In an interview, the plaintiff, Joe Piscitelli said that, like his entire family, he attended Catholic schools all his life. In 1969, he started at Salesian High School. "It was drilled into my brain that the closest person on earth to God is a Catholic priest," said Piscitelli, now 50 and a Martinez resident. "When this started happening, I thought God must be a pervert." Now a coordinator for the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, he alleges in the lawsuit that the priest sexually abused him and the school failed to stop it. "We have serious reservations about what Mr. Piscitelli says ever took place," said Salesian spokesman Sam Singer. Singer said while many of the abuse allegations against priests have merit, "this is absolutely not one of those cases." In one incident contained in court documents, Piscitelli alleges that the priest masturbated in front of him. Piscitelli said he saw a school therapist soon after the incident. The next day, Piscitelli's mother, who worked at the school cafeteria, approached him, he said. She was crying. "She said, 'What did you tell that woman?'" Piscitelli recounted. "'They're going to kick you out of school and fire me from the cafeteria.'" Piscitelli said he then went to the principal and promised to keep his criticisms to himself so she could keep her job. Piscitelli said he is not motivated by money. "I'm getting what I couldn't get then," he said. "I'm getting some kind of justice because they can't shut the squeaky wheel up now. Reach Chris Metinko at 510-763-5418 or cmetinko@cctimes.com. Reach Bruce Gerstman at 925-952-2670 or at bgerstman@cctimes.com
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