L.A. Archdiocese to Pay $13 Million to Sex Abuse Victims

The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed this week to pay out $13 million to more than a dozen victims of clergy sex abuse. Attorneys for the victims claim Los Angeles and Mexican church leaders also conspired to shield one notorious pedophile priest from authorities.

Eleven of the 17 cases settled by the L.A. Archdiocese involve former Mexican priest Nicolas Aguilar Rivera. He is believed to have molested more than two dozen children in the late 1980s.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Anthony De Marco says the priest fled to his native Mexico shortly after the abuse came to light.

“He’s been on the most wanted list in the state of Puebla for over 20 years,” said De Marco at a news conference Wednesday in Los Angeles.

In a statement, the archdiocese said Aguilar Rivera was removed from ministry as soon as a report of alleged abuse was made against him.

But in a videotaped deposition from last year, Cardinal Roger Mahony acknowledges that church officials notified Aguilar Rivera of the allegations before notifying the police.

Another plaintiffs’ attorney, Jeff Anderson, said Aguilar Rivera left L.A. a couple days later.

“What we see in this deposition is Cardinal Mahony still cannot acknowledge that facilitating the flight of a pedophile priest is wrong,” said Anderson.

The L.A. Archdiocese says it sent several letters to Aguilar Rivera’s bishop in Mexico requesting that he be returned to the United States to face criminal charges. Church documents released last year revealed a pattern by former Archbishop Mahony and other church leaders to conceal incidents of clergy sex abuse from authorities.

Mahony was later stripped of all public duties by his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez.

This week’s settlements also include cases involving a former Catholic high school teacher and two other priests. Esther Miller was one of the girls abused by a priest in the 1980s.

“The money isn’t just to punish the church.  We’re about seeking something that will relieve our soul that we’ve been agonized for so many years in,” Miller said.

This week’s settlements are among the last active cases of past clergy sex abuse facing the L.A. Diocese. But attorneys warn that it’s possible that more could come forward because of ongoing efforts to revise the state’s statute of limitation.