WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 - Third Anonymous Lawsuit Alleges Sex Abuse by Priest

Third Anonymous Lawsuit Alleges Sex Abuse by Priest

06/13/2008 2:07 PM ET

WILMINGTON, Del.- A third anonymous lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by the Rev. Francis G. DeLuca was filed Friday in Kent County Superior Court against the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and St. John the Beloved Church.

In the suit, the 56-year-old plaintiff identified only as "John Doe #3," alleges more than 100 acts of sexual abuse committed by DeLuca, from 1962-1965, starting when the alleged victim was between 10 and 13 years of age.

The suit is the third anonymous DeLuca-related lawsuit filed this year and the fourth since Delaware's Child Victim's Act went into effect in July of last year. The law eliminated the civil statute of limitations in cases of child sexual abuse and opened a two-year "window" during which previously time-barred complaints could be filed.

Robert Quill of Florida, the first to file suit under the new law, settled his case against DeLuca, the diocese and St. Elizabeth's Church earlier this year for an undisclosed sum. Two prior
anonymous victims alleged in their suits to have been sexually abused by DeLuca at ages 11-14 from 1961-1964 at St. John's, and at ages 11-14 from 1966-1969 at St. Elizabeth's Church.

This lawsuit alleges that Doe was an altar boy who DeLuca abused in his rectory bedroom, the school teacher's lounge, at drive-in movies and on trips to Philadelphia and New York City. According to the lawsuit, Doe was witnessed numerous times by at least one other priest leaving DeLuca's bedroom in the early morning after he had been allegedly molested.

As in the two previous "John Doe" lawsuits, John Doe #3 charges that the diocese knew in 1962 that DeLuca was sexually abusing boys but covered up the abuse because of a shortage of Catholic priests in the diocese from the 1950s onward.

The lawsuit alleges that Doe has suffered from failed marriages, inability to hold a steady job, avoidance, depression, nervous breakdowns, alcohol and drug abuse, all arising from his childhood sexual abuse.

When asked for a response to the lawsuit, diocese spokesman Robert G. Krebs told WBOC, "It really would be inappropriate to comment on this lawsuit. We really haven't had a chance to review it at this point."

DeLuca was allowed to retire to Syracuse, N.Y. when allegations of sexual abuse surfaced against him in 1993. He was arrested in 2006 and a year later was sentenced by a New York judge to 60 days in jail for repeatedly molesting his 18-year-old grandnephew.

John Doe #3's attorney, Thomas S. Neuberger of the The Neuberger Firm, promised more lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by DeLuca will be forthcoming.

"There will be at least a dozen now that victims know they can come forward and preserve their privacy," Neuberger.