Two more men filed lawsuits Wednesday alleging they were sexually abused by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh when they were children.
The lawsuits, filed on behalf of two unnamed plaintiffs in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, are the latest of more than a dozen legal complaints brought forth by attorney Alan Perer in recent months — many of which allege fraud and conspiracy by church officials.
The latest pair — like the others — name the diocese as a defendant along with Bishop David A. Zubik and former Pittsburgh Bishop Donald W. Wuerl, now a Cardinal. The suits allege abuse back to the late 1960s into the 1970s by two priests.
One of the unnamed plaintiffs, a 58-year-old man who lives in North Carolina, alleged he was abused by the Rev. Richard Lelonis in the late 1960s to early 1970s beginning at the age of 8, while Father Lelonis was a priest and teacher at St. Luke in Carnegie.
Among the allegations, the North Carolina man claims that Father Lelonis, who had taken “an immediate interest” in the boy and would take him on car rides, began inviting him to visit the rectory, where he’d invite him to shower in his bathroom. The sexual abuse began there and continued over the next few years at the rectory, at Father Lelonis’ parents’ house in Mt. Lebanon and at a seminary in Zelienople on a weekend retreat.
Father Lelonis was placed on administrative leave by Bishop Zubik on Sept. 12 pending investigation of two allegations of sexual abuse of minors, one of which allegedly occurred about 1980. According to the diocese, Father Lelonis denied the allegations.
The other unnamed plaintiff in the new suits, an Allegheny County man, claimed he was abused by the Rev. Carl Roemele between the ages of 13 and 14 at St. Agatha in Bridgeville in the 1970s. Father Roemele, who is still alive, was named in the state grand jury report on sexual abuse in Pennsylvania dioceses.
According to the lawsuit, Father Roemele would frequently stop at the boy’s house to have evening drinks with his parents, “further strengthening the relationship with the family and instilling trust” in the priest.
The Allegheny County man claims that when he was a boy, Father Roemele — who was a priest at his church and the coach of his church basketball team — would take him to his cabin in Donegal and sexually assault him. Father Roemele would also do this to other boys at the cabin, the lawsuit alleges.
The Rev. Nicholas Vaskov, spokesman for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, said the diocese is reviewing the lawsuits and cannot comment on pending litigation.
According to the grand jury report released in August by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office, Father Roemele was accused of engaging in sexual misconduct toward four boys at St. William in Pittsburgh when he was a parochial vicar. Father Roemele, whom the grand jury said was voluntarily laicized in 1978, denied all allegations when confronted by diocesan officials in February 2009.
The new lawsuits — like the ones that came before them — allege that the defendants purposely transferred or reassigned the priests to other places within the ministry and acted out of protection “of the reputation of its priests and employees.”
First Published: December 13, 2018, 3:01 p.m.
