BishopAccountability.org
	Five Join Lawsuit against Brick Church By Kathleen Hopkins Ashbury Park Press [Brick NJ] October 16, 2006 http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061016/NEWS/610160360/1001/NEWS02 Toms River — Five more plaintiffs have come forward to accuse a onetime pastor of St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Brick of molesting them when they were boys during the 1970s and 1980s. That brings to 11 the number of men who are suing the church on Salmon Street and its officials over alleged sexual abuse. Meanwhile, the clergyman at the center of the multimillion-dollar lawsuit, the Rev. Robert L. Slegel, who resigned as pastor of the church amid scandal in 1993, died Sept. 1 at age 77. He had been living in Southern Shores, N.C., near Kitty Hawk, according to an obituary prepared by Twiford Colony Chapel in Manteo, N.C. Dover Township attorney Robert R. Fuggi Jr. filed the $30 million lawsuit against the church last year on behalf of six men who said they were molested by Slegel when they were boys in the 1970s. The suit named as defendants the church; two of its former pastors, identified in court papers only by their initials; the New Jersey Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Fuggi now has amended the complaint to include five more men who have come forward with molestation allegations against Slegel after reading about the original lawsuit in the Asbury Park Press earlier this year. Two of the new plaintiffs now reside in Brick, two in Dover Township and one in Lakewood. They range in age from 34 to 39. Two allege they were molested from ages 7 to 9 — one from 1974 to 1976, and the other from 1978 to 1980. A third alleges he was molested from 1980 to 1981, when he was 12 and 13. A fourth alleges he was molested between 1978 and 1981, when he was 6 to 9 years old. The fifth alleges he was molested between 1980 and 1983, when he was between 13 and 16. Fuggi also has amended the complaint, which originally included Slegel, identified only by the initials R.L.S., to include his estate. Fuggi said he expects to increase the award he is seeking to $55 million, or $5 million for each plaintiff. Fuggi said he has been retained by a 12th man whom he intends to add to the suit as a plaintiff. In addition, the amended lawsuit now names St. Thomas Christian Academy, affiliated with the church, and its principal during the time the alleged molestation took place. Two of the new plaintiffs were students at the academy. The principal is identified in the lawsuit as "Principal S." During the period the molestation is alleged to have occurred, Slegel's wife, Cynthia, was principal of St. Thomas Academy. An annex to the school opened in 1986 and was named Slegel Hall for the pastor and the school's principal. Slegel's attorney, Linda Olsen of Tinton Falls, said through her secretary that it would be inappropriate for her to comment on the lawsuit. The amended complaint alleges the school and its principal, as well as church officials, breached their duty to protect the students from harm and sexual abuse by Pastor R.L.S. Fuggi said his clients' position against the church and school is bolstered by a recent state Supreme Court decision in the case of a man who claimed he was molested by a musical director of the Princeton boarding school he attended from 1969 to 1971. The Aug. 8 state Supreme Court decision allowing John W. Hardwicke to go forward with his lawsuit against the American Boychoir School said that charitable organizations are not immune from claims brought for willful, wanton or grossly negligent conduct. The court decision also said that an institution such as a school can be viewed as a child abuser if it is standing in place of the child's parents and fails to protect the youngster from abuse. The lawsuit against St. Thomas said Pastor R.L.S. used his position with the church to gain the trust of boys as young as 5 and then molest them. It alleged another pastor of the church, identified in court papers by the initials J.M.E., turned a blind eye to the misconduct, allowing it to continue for years, and that the church has a policy of masking the identities of pedophiles while allowing them to continue working in the church as ministers. Earlier this year, the church denied having prior knowledge of the molestation or allowing it to continue, but said it was too early to comment on the allegations against Slegel. The Rev. J. Bert Carlson, an interim pastor, said Slegel was removed from the Lutheran Church of America's official clergy rolls in 1999 after an adult made an allegation of being molested by Slegel as a child. The Rev. Stanley Ellison, current pastor, said last week the church's position has not changed. Michael Gilberti, a Red Bank attorney defending the Rev. John M. Elstad against the allegations in the lawsuit, said last week, "We still believe there's no basis for liability against Elstad. Elstad was associate pastor at St. Thomas when Slegel was the senior pastor and assumed the post of senior pastor upon Slegel's resignation in 1993, after Slegel's arrest on charges of picking up a male prostitute in Lakewood. Slegel's conviction on the charge was overturned by an appellate court. Elstad retired from the church in 2004 after 30 years with an unblemished record and still lives in New Jersey, church officials have said. Gilberti has said Elstad didn't know about the molestation and, as Slegel's subordinate, wasn't in a position to supervise or discipline him.
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