Women, archdiocese settle lawsuit over child abuse
By Associated Press
Published January 10, 2004
MIAMI - Three sisters who said they were molested by a carpenter volunteering for a Roman Catholic church 15 years ago will receive $425,000 under a settlement with the Archdiocese of Miami, their attorney and church officials said.
The sisters, ages 8, 9 and 10 at the time of the alleged abuse in 1989, filed their lawsuit against the archdiocese and the Church of St. Agatha in 2002.
The suit charged that Auxiliary Bishop Felipe de Jesus Estevez, who was pastor in 1989, "knew or should have known" of the alleged abuse.
The case was resolved last month, their attorney, Jeffrey Herman, said Thursday.
The carpenter, Juan Marcello Sastre, and Estevez have denied the abuse or any knowledge of wrongdoing. Estevez was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Court records show Sastre was convicted in 1972 of lewd and lascivious assault on a child and was put on five years' probation.
According to the lawsuit, the former pastor said the girls' parents told him of the abuse about a decade after it allegedly occurred at the church.
Estevez said he called church leaders, who reported the allegations to police. No charges were filed.
Estevez was named Miami's only auxiliary bishop this week. He will assist Archbishop John C. Favalora in running the archdiocese.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said the timing of the settlement had nothing to do with his ordination.
