LA Archdiocese Settles 4 Clergy Abuse Cases for $10m; Priest Had Admitted Past Abuse to Mahony

By Gillian Flaccus
Grand Forks Herald
March 12, 2013

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/apArticle/id/DA4VPF6O3/

[Michael Baker - Los Angeles archdiocese]

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay nearly $10 million to settle four clergy sex abuse cases.

Church attorney J. Michael Hennigan confirmed the $9.9 million settlement Tuesday for the cases, which alleged abuse by former priest Michael Baker.

Two cases were to go to trial soon and a judge had said attorneys for the alleged victims could also pursue punitive damages.

Recently released files show Baker met with Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1986 and confessed to molesting two brothers for nearly seven years.

Mahony sent Baker for psychological treatment but eventually put him back in ministry, where he molested again.

Baker was convicted of molesting one boy in 2007. Two of the latest plaintiffs are that boy's brothers.

Mahony is in Rome helping select the next pope.