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A former San Andreas man has sued the Stockton Catholic Diocese and defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady, saying he was molested while O’Grady served at St. Andrew’s Parish two decades ago. The alleged victim, 25, who now lives in the Bay Area, says the abuse occurred in 1992 — one year before O’Grady was convicted of four counts of lewd and lascivious acts against two other boys.
O’Grady in 1993 was convicted of molesting the Turlock brothers while assigned to a church in that San Joaquin Valley town. He served seven years in Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, was paroled in 2000, and was subsequently deported to Ireland. He is serving a three-year prison term in Ireland following his conviction this year on charges of possessing child pornography. The plaintiff in the new suit, filed Tuesday in San Joaquin County Superior Court, claims he was molested a half dozen times between the ages of 5 and 6. Many of the alleged incidents occurred in the priest’s bedroom in the rectory while O’Grady was babysitting, the claim says. The plaintiff further alleges that diocese officials knew about, but failed to report to law enforcement, O’Grady’s history of abusing children. In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the Stockton Diocese said it notified law enforcement authorities in Calaveras County of the new allegations when it obtained a copy of the lawsuit from the court. “We have not yet had an opportunity to review the complaint,” the statement from Bishop Stephen Blaire said. “The Diocese of Stockton takes all accusations of sexual abuse very seriously. We follow clear guidelines to ensure that accusations are handled appropriately and that we offer whatever help and healing we can to victims of sexual abuse.” The plaintiff’s attorney, Joseph George, of Sacramento, scoffed at the diocese’s statement, calling it a “PR stunt.” He noted earlier lawsuits involving O’Grady that demonstrated the diocese covered up allegations against the priest as early as 1976. Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Chris Hewitt this morning confirmed the office had received a copy of the civil complaint. He said detectives are opening an investigation. Sheriff’s investigators are already looking into a raft of complaints involving another former priest, Michael Kelly. Kelly, who previously served at St. Andrew’s and Sonora’s St. Patrick’s Church, in April was on the losing end of a civil court verdict in San Joaquin County. A Fairfax man successfully argued Kelly molested him in the mid-1980s while an altar boy in Stockton. Kelly, on the eve of his scheduled testimony in the second phase of that trial, fled to Ireland, saying he was suffering from health issues and wanted to be near his family. The diocese settled the civil suit for $3.75 million. George said he plans to depose O’Grady in Ireland, rather than bringing him to the United States. “He’s not shy. I imagine he’ll love to tell the story,” George said. Indeed, O’Grady was interviewed at length in a 2006 documentary “Deliver Us from Evil,” boasting of molesting dozens of children as early as 1973. |