Abuse suit filed against Texas diocese

December 30, 2009

A man who claims he was abused by a priest of the Diocese of San Angelo from the time he was eight until the time he was sixteen has filed suit against the diocese. When Father David Espitia was initially accused of abuse in 2003, he protested his innocence to Bishop Michael Pfeifer and committed suicide.

“I am dismayed by the claim that the diocese, and I personally, are somehow responsible for some claimed sexual abuse of a minor child by the late Father David Espitia,” said Bishop Pfeifer. “Father Espitia himself was the first to report to me that he had been so accused. He totally denied these accusations.”

 

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Further information:

• Lawsuit Launched Against Local Catholic Diocese (KOSA-TV)
• Hundreds Pack Rosary for Priest Found Hanged in Apparent Suicide (AP, 2003)