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Suit Claims Priest Abuse, Cover-Up Man Says He Was Molested at St. Denis in '80s By Ben Sutherly Dayton Daily News [Ohio] January 28, 2004 Greenville — A former parishioner of St. Denis Catholic Church in Versailles claims a priest sexually molested him at the church's rectory in the early 1980s when he was 12 to 14, according to a civil lawsuit filed this month in Darke County Common Pleas Court. The man also claims the Cincinnati Archdiocese knew of the Rev. Thomas Hopp's conduct with other minors in the 1970s and 1980s. The lawsuit alleges the archdiocese failed to report the abuse to police and alert potential victims. The man, now in his mid-30s and living in Greene County, "finally came forward when he thought the environment would be more receptive to his story," said Konrad Kircher, a Mason attorney representing the plaintiff and about 80 other clients in southwest Ohio who said they were abused by priests. The lawsuit, which seeks more than $2 million in compensatory and punitive damages and also names Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk as a defendant, claims an archdiocese investigation confirmed the plaintiff's allegation. Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco denied archdiocese officials knew about abuse by Hopp in the 1980s or investigated any allegations then. Contact: bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com |
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