Category:Archdiocese Of Miami

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Archdiocese of Miami

Archdiocese of Miami 13 priests had been accused of sexual abuse up to January 2003. The figure rose to 38 of its priests have been accused of sexual misconduct involving minors since the diocese was founded 45 years earlier, National Audit report December 2003.

1. Archdiocese defense Archdiocese asked judges to order public identification of the plaintiffs, who are anonymous in court filings, in order to embarrass them into dropping the cases and discourage other victims from coming forward. The church said fairness dictates that all parties be identified publicly. Archbishop Favalora negotiated for months with local prosecutors over how much information about accused priests he will give them. State judge ordered Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román, the spiritual leader of Cuban exiles, one of the highest-ranking local Catholic leaders, to give a pretrial deposition within 60 days to answer questions under oath in the first clergy sexual-abuse lawsuit headed for trial in South Florida, 12 March 2003. Ruling put intense pressure on the archdiocese, which is trying to fend off 20 molestation lawsuits.

Archdiocese of Miami settlement I Settlement of $500,000 the archdiocese paid to a boy who accused a priest of molesting him at a nursing home, 2003.

Archdiocese of Miami settlement II Agreed to pay a total of $3.4 million to settle 23 lawsuits brought by former altar boys and other youths who accused 10 Catholic priests of sexually abusing them decades earlier, September 2004.

Whistleblower priest fired Rev. Andrew Dowgiert complained to the archdiocese about sexual and financial improprieties committed by certain archdiocesan clergy, for which he was fired. A lawsuit filed May 2005 on behalf of Dowgiert against the Archdiocese of Miami was dismissed, 25 August 2005.

Castellanos and Guichard case Rev. Ricardo Castellanos and Rev. Alvaro Guichard faced a lawsuit alleging they forced an altar boy to take part in orgies in the early 1970s. The two priests faced similar allegations in the late 1970s, although the accuser later recanted. Both denied wrongdoing but were suspended 2002. Archdiocese settled. See separate cases.

Jane Doe accusation Woman sued the archdiocese and a priest who allegedly abused her while she was a student at a Catholic high school in Palm Beach County.

John Doe accusation Former altar boy sued the Archdiocese of Miami fall 2002, alleging he was sexually abused as an 8-year-old in the Operation Pedro Pan program for Cuban children by two priests.

Diocesan Cases of Miami

(alphabetical listing)

[38 offenders identified, 24 listed]

Arandia affair Rev. Arnulfo Arandia accused of abuse. Sued.

Cassetta affair Rev. Charles Cassetta accused of abuse of girl at high school. Sued 2003.

Castellanos affair Rev. Ricardo Castellanos arrived in South Florida from communist Cuba alone, a teenage refugee, educated and cared for by local clergy, role models who would shape his decision to become a priest. He entered the seminary, excelled and cut a path to the Vatican, where he became a distinguished student. Castellanos was accused by Jose A. Currais Jr., a former Miami altar boy of sexually abusing him at a Miami Catholic high school and two parishes, including the Little Flower when he was between 14 and 16 in the early 1970s. Rev. Alvaro Guichard was involved in this accusation. Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, after a preliminary investigation, decided not to file charges against Guichard and Castellanos in both cases because the statute of limitations had expired. Archdiocese suspended Castellanos May 2002.

Cinesi affair Rev. Joseph Cinesi left his parish in August 1999, saying he wanted to fight the false allegations against him. He was placed on a leave of absence because of the accusations in December 1999 but remains a priest. Settled 1999.

1. Cinesi lawsuits Five lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Cinesi were settled out of court. He was accused by former altar boy when he was 10, of repeatedly raping him at Immaculate Conception School in 1978-79 school year. The victim attempted suicide twice because of the abuse, according to the civil lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami, filed 6 May 2004.

D’Angelo affair Rev. Rocco D’Angelo who during a 31-year Florida career that began in Boynton Beach and ended with retirement in Tampa, allegedly molested at least 12 boys. His transgressions were well-known to the highest officials of the Miami diocese, including Archbishop Coleman Carroll, occurring 1962-89. Archdiocese of Miami transferred him from Perrine to St. Bernadette Parish in Hollywood 30 August 1966, then to a psychiatric counseling center, and finally to the Diocese of St. Petersburg. It was not until 1976 that the Miami archdiocese told St. Petersburg officials in writing that D’Angelo repeatedly had been accused of “alleged homosexual activities involving young boys.” Even then he stayed on the job, and at least four more boys allegedly were victimized, this time in Tampa, according to civil suits filed but dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired, late 1990s. The church has paid settlements to three of D'Angelo’s victims.

1. Sidaway accusation Kevin Sidaway accused Rev. Rocco D’Angelo of rape, but because in the 1960s rape was defined only as an attack on a female, prosecutors could do nothing.
2. Church cover-up Church leaders told parents D'Angelo would be sent somewhere where he could not threaten children. Instead, they transferred him to Florida's Gulf Coast, where he molested more boys over the ensuing decades.

Doherty affair Rev. Neil Doherty served in Miami-Dade and Broward counties for more than three decades, lastly as pastor of St. Vincent’s Church in Margate, was accused by former student at St. Anthony Catholic School in Fort Lauderdale, of drugging and raping him more than a dozen times in 1976, when he was 12. Doherty was accused of drugging and sexually abusing a 17-year-old Chaminade Madonna High School student in 1978 with whom the archdiocese made a $50,000 settlement in 1994, and two other accusations against Doherty, one in 1979 and the other in 1987.

1. Archdiocese cover-up Archdiocese records showed that it had investigated but did not tell authorities. The archdiocese allowed him to continue his clergy work involving children and no action was ever undertaken by the local authorities because the statute of limitations had expired. Diocese sued 2003. Since the late 1970s, eight minors have complained that the priest slipped sedatives into their drinks and raped them while they were unconscious. Arrested on charges of raping a Broward County youth, 26 January 2006. Church leaders, in response to the youth's sexual-abuse lawsuit, said “his own negligence”' was to blame for what the priest allegedly did to him when he was 10 Years old.
2. Doherty arrest Rev. Neil Doherty was arrested on two counts of sexual battery, indecent assault and molestation, in January 2006.
3. John Doe No. 28 Claims in the lawsuit that the Rev. Neil Doherty sexually abused him as a 14-year-old in the priest's car and in the rectory at St. Vincent Catholic Church in Margate. Doherty gave money to him after the alleged abuse, which took place in 1999.

Engbers affair Rev. Thomas Engbers accused of abuse 2002.

Garcia-Rubio affair Rev. Ernesto Garcia-Rubio, pastor of Our Lady of Divine Providence, Sweetwater, had four lawsuits alleging sexual abuse. One victim was raped in 1977. Another was a Cuban refugee who came to Miami in 1980 said Garcia-Rubio gave him alcohol and drugs before raping him several times. That victim said he told another priest, Rev. Hector Gonzalez-Abreu, about the abuse that year and that priest then sexually assaulted him. Lawsuit against the Archdiocese filed 20 November 2003. Garcia-Rubio's whereabouts is not known.

1. Garcia-Rubio cover-up Archdiocese denounced accusations of abuse as an “inquisition” though the church's own records show they took them seriously, Archbishop Edward McCarthy had already insisted that the Rev. Ernesto Garcia-Rubio be evaluated for pedophilia# Garcia-Rubio was defrocked in the late 1990s after allegations that he had raped a young parishioner and sexually abused four Central American refugees.

Gonzalez-Abreu affair Rev. Héctor González-Abreu, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in northwest Dade, accused of sexually abusing boys was suspended in the wake of a lawsuit filed 20 November 2003. He denied the allegation.

Guerrero affair Rev. Joaquin Guerrero and the Archdiocese of Miami were sued for failing to protect from being repeatedly raped, a 14-year-old boy, “R. E.” who was taken from his home in Cuba, brought to South Florida under the protection of the Catholic Church’s Pedro Pan program in 1962, according to a lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court 9 November 2002.

Guichard affair Rev. Alvaro Guichard (1941-), who had fled from Cuba in 1973, was suspended May 2002 for 15 months after two former altar boys claimed he molested them. Prosecutors could not pursue that case because the statute of limitations ran out. Guichard returned to service at the Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables, August 2003 only to be suspended again with new allegations December 2003. Archdiocese settled. In all, Guichard has been accused of sexual abuse of five boys in the 1970s and early 1980s.

1. Anon accusation 39-year-old accuser said the Rev. Alvaro Guichard molested him in the 1980s. “He would slide his hand through my arm, my chest and my legs. He would go and take a shower and he would come out of the shower with underwear. He would offer me some presents and gifts and he would take me out shopping. I want him to be removed out of the Catholic Church and now I don’t believe in the Catholic religion anymore,” the accuser said. “I don’t know why he picked me out of the rest. But I think I was his favorite.” Guichard denied the accusation. “Never he went to my bedroom in the Church of the Flower when I live in the rectory,” Guichard said. “What he said about abuses, that is totally false, lie and in a way is a coward person... He’s trying to destroy me, but he cannot destroy me because he knows very well that what he say is false, totally false.”
2. Cuban exile case Rev. Alvaro Guichard at a Coral Gables church was accused of sexually abusing a Cuban boy who he housed after arriving from Cuba on the Mariel boatlift, 1980. The priest made nighttime “tucking in” visits over four weeks and forced the teen to have sex in the pastor's quarters at The Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables and promised him a car and a job in exchange for sex. “It’s fiction, false and lies,” Guichard said. “The new allegations are as ridiculous as the other ones.”
3. Guichard countersuits Rev. Alvaro Guichard filed lawsuits against his accusers claiming defamation and conspiracy.
   1. Anon countersuit Rev. Alvaro Guichard suspended because of sexual abuse allegations sued one of his accusers for defamation, saying his accuser made defamatory lies against him at a news conference two years earlier. “That's when the man announced he was suing the Archdiocese of Miami, which later settled.” The man in his lawsuit said that when he was a teenager in the 1980s, Guichard promised him a job and a car in exchange for sex.
   2. Herman countersuit Rev. Alvaro Guichard sued Jeffrey Herman, an attorney who represented the accusers, for defamation, January 2006.
   3. John Doe 17 countersuit Accused the priest of abusing him, who in turn was sued by Rev. Alvaro Guichard, 13 October 2006.
   4. John Doe 20 countersuit Named Guichard as Cruz who accused the priest of abusing him in 1980, who in turn was sued by Rev. Alvaro Guichard seeking more than $15,000 in damages, claiming Guichard never abused Cruz and that both Cruz and Herman provided false statements to the media and the public. The lawsuit also alleges Cruz conspired with Herman to collect money from the archdiocese by incriminating Guichard, a charge similar to conspiracy charges Guichard had alleged in other cases, 12 October 2006.
   5. Relatives countersuit Rev. Alvaro Guichard sued a mother and brother of another accuser, claiming defamation and conspiracy.

Guimaraes case Rev. Elias Francisco Guimaraes was arrested when he arrived for a sexual rendezvous with a detective who had been posing as a 14-year-old boy on the Internet, pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to entice a minor to have sex in Delray Beach, was sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison followed by three years of probation, 13 April 2003.

Harris affair Rev. L. Yates Harris (d. 1996), a guidance counselor at a private Catholic St. Thomas Aquinas High School, was alleged to have got a 17-year-old high school junior drunk and performed oral sex on him, 1982. Archdiocese sued 2003.

Huck affair Rev. Joseph Huck case of abuse settled by archdiocese.

Jove affair Rev. Pedro Jove accused of sexual abuse (Miyares affair). Jove, who became the executive director of the Alliance for Aging in Miami. Jove denied allegations from the lawsuit that said he and the other priest molested the boy on numerous occasions in multiple locations.

Kershner affair Rev. Joseph Kershner, principal of Cardinal Gibbons High School, did not face criminal charges for allegedly molesting a male student in the 1970s because the statute of limitations had long since expired, but Broward Assistant State Attorney Dennis Siegel wrote in a closeout memo that the credibility of the charge against Kershner is supported by other allegations made by former students that came to light during his investigation, 31 July 2002. Returned to ministry.

Malicki case Rev. Jan Malicki at St. David church in Davie was accused in a 1998 lawsuit of trying to rape a girl and sexually abusing a woman, the archbishop suspended him from parish work and reassigned him to duty at a nursing home. The priest refused the new job and remained off the job. Lower courts dismissed the case because of the constitutional ban on government involvement in religions, but this was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court and the case was revived, 14 March 2002. Rev. Malicki sued the archdiocese July 2002, claiming it publicly accused the priest of wrongdoing before he was officially charged with sexual abuse, the case was dismissed. The church eventually cleared Malicki of charges he violated canon law, and the Broward State Attorney's Office never brought criminal charges against him.

1. Malicki lawsuit Rev. Jan Malicki at St. David Catholic Church in Davie, was accused by a woman, an adult employee, who filed a sex-battery suit against him. A second accuser, “Jane Doe I,” said she was a teenager when Malicki molested her. Lawsuit filed June 2002. Attorneys for the women confirmed that the archdiocese reached a settlement with one of the women of more than $500,000 and finalized a settlement with the second woman for less than $500,000, 30 June 2005. Malicki was defrocked.

Maroor affair Rev. Joseph Maroor was accused of seducing a woman he counseled at a drug-treatment center, April 2002.

Miyares affair Rev. Gustavo J. Miyares (Father Gus), a Cuban exile whose family fled the island in 1960, was ordained as a priest in the Archdiocese of Miami in 1973. His first parish was Our Lady Queen of Peace Mission in Delray Beach and' later became a spiritual director at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami and then served as director of vocations for the archdiocese. In 1983, he was assigned to St. Mary's Cathedral in Miami. The following year, he was named pastor of St. Timothy's Church in Southwest Dade County. Miyares also was the supervising principal at Monsignor Edward Pace High School in Opa-locka In 1992, Miyares returned to the Hialeah parish where he spent part of his youth and the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and served as its pastor until he agreed to resign in October 2006. Miyares was prominent in the Elián González case in 2000. He organized a prayer vigil and said some saw the boy as “the new Christ.” Miyares resigned 17 October 2006.

1. John Doe No. 25 accusation (1967-) former altar boy sued the Archdiocese of Miami, saying Gustavo Miyares along with Rev. Pedro Jove (Jove affair), sexually abuse him at a summer camp at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach when he was 14. The priests gave him alcohol and forced him into sex acts, including fondling, oral sex and sodomy, which took place at the camp, the priests' rectory and a Keys condominium in the early 1980s, 17 October 2006.

“I lived with the pain for 25 years. My life was torn apart emotionally. I was just a kid, self-conscious, insecure, shy and needing direction. I was the perfect vulnerable target.” John Doe, 17 October 2006.

Nickse affair Rev. Jose Pablo Nickse (deceased) was sued for abuse. Removed from ministry.

Petrusic affair Rev. Anthony Petrusic accused of abuse. Removed 2002.

Romero affair Rev. Willie Romero (1937-), officiated his first Mass at Sacred Heart Church in 1967 before he went on to work in a half dozen South Florida parishes. He resigned from the Catholic Church in 2003 amid rumors of sexual shenanigans with some of the boys who helped him say Mass. The Archdiocese of Miami paid out $1.5 million to his victims, one received $135,000. Enter Romero's nephew, Lake Worth resident Mike Callahan. As Romero struggled with his own scandal, Callahan bought the priest's North K Street home while the padre moved to LaBelle. Callahan says he was cleaning the attic when a set of 20 disturbing Polaroids turned up in a box. Romero poses nude with sea oats sticking out of his mouth. In some, naked boys swim, sun themselves on the banks of the lake or climb on Romero's motorboat.

Smith case Rev. Trevor Smith (1937-), who served in the Archdiocese of Miami for 40 years retired, pleaded guilty to fondling a 12-year-old boy while he was visiting his grandmother at a nursing home, sentenced to two years of house arrest in Miami, to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, followed by eight years' probation. Smith also paid a $1,000 fine, continue his therapy with a psychologist and have no contact with minors, 3 December 2004. Settled for $500,000, 2003.

Walk affair Rev. Donald Walk, priest at St. James Catholic Church in Miami and a former Miami Dolphins Chaplain was accused of sexually abusing an altar boy, Eddy Carvin. Walk worked as a priest at St. James Catholic Church during the same years as the Rev. Anthony Mercieca (Mercieca affair), who was implicated in the sexual abuse of former Rep. Mark Foley when Foley was a teenage altar boy.

1. Carvin accusation (John Doe No. 42) Altar boy Eddy Carvin (1965-) accused Donald Walk of sexually abusing him when he was 13 for five years beginning in 1977. During that period, took him to Dolphin games, introduced him to team members and even took him to meet former coach Don Shula at his home.
2. Walk lawsuits Walk was accused of sexual abuse in two other cases filed by Carvin's attorney, Jeffrey Herman. The archdiocese settled one of those cases as part of a six-case, $750,000 payment in 2006. The other case is pending