Friday, July 16, 1999
Lawsuit filed against archdiocese, convicted ex-priest
Plaintiff says he was molested
BY PHILLIP PINA and ERIN GIBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Saying he had repressed the memories for years, a Mount Lookout man has filed suit against a former priest and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati saying he had been molested as a child.
The lawsuit was the latest in a string of complaints against the church and the former priest, George Cooley. Mr. Cooley, an admitted pedophile, has faced a number of charges in molestation cases dating from his time as associate pastor of a Mount Washington parish in the early 1980s.
On Thursday, the 25-year-old Mount Lookout man filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court claiming fraud, negligent infliction of emotional distress, clergy malpractice and intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress. The man and his wife are seeking $9 million in damages.
The man, whose name is not being used as part of an Enquirer policy to not identify victims or alleged victims of sexual assaults, said he went to Mr. Cooley for guidance while he was a parishioner at Guardian Angels Church in 1982 and 1983.
According to Donald Moore Jr., the man's attorney, the plaintiff had put the alleged molestations out of his mind and for years didn't have any memory of them. It was only after the plaintiff sought counseling for psychological problems that he recalled the molestations, Mr. Moore said.
His client's lawsuit said the church knew about earlier molestation claims made against Mr. Cooley, yet still put him in a position where he could work with children.
Neither Mr. Cooley nor church officials could be reached for comment Thursday night. Mr. Cooley is no longer a member of the church's clergy.
A former associate pastor of Guardian Angels Church in Mount Washington, Mr. Cooley was sent to jail Sept. 17, 1991, after pleading guilty to charges that he molested four boys in 1983 and 1984. He was sen tenced to 90 days in prison and five years' probation for child endangering, sexual imposition and furnishing beer or intoxicating liquor to a minor.
After his sentencing, nine lawsuits were filed against Mr. Cooley and the archdiocese, which kept Mr. Cooley assigned to work near children despite complaints from parents of his victims. According to Mr. Moore, those cases were resolved without a trial.
Mr. Cooley was imprisoned again in 1994 for a parole violation: leaving Hamilton County without permission to stalk one of his former child victims in Covington. He was released on July 30, 1995, after serving 15 months for the violation.
In February 1996, he was sentenced to 60 days of home incarceration and three years of probation after being convicted of soliciting oral sex and a massage for $20 from a 19-year-old decoy acting as a male prostitute.
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