A man suing the Diocese of Reno claims his termination as lay
administrator was in retaliation for reporting alleged violations over a
federal grant to restore the oldest active Catholic church in Nevada.
Nick
Nicosia contends his 2009 firing at St. Mary's in the Mountains church
in Virginia City violated the retaliation provision of the False Claims
Act, which is designed to combat fraud by government contractors.
Nicosia's
federal court complaint says a $500 donation from former Mustang Ranch
brothel owner Joe Conforte to the church project was among concerns he
voiced about a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service.
He
alleges the diocese accepted the money from Conforte even though federal
rules prohibit matching-funds donations under such grants from
fugitives. Conforte fled to Brazil in 1991 to avoid prosecution on
tax-evasion charges.
He contends grant requirements were violated
with bonuses to contractors, a lack of competitive bidding,
misrepresentation of engineering studies and unauthorized expenditures
of grant money.
Under the False Claims Act, Nicosia merely has to
prove the retaliation resulted from the fact he "reasonably believed"
there were violations of grant requirements, said his attorney, Terri
Keyser-Cooper.
"He doesn't have to prove whether or not there was
fraud," she said. "We think we'll have no problem proving he was
reasonable to bring up the questions and problems that he saw. We're
confident that we're on very strong legal ground."
The complaint
over the grant for the 133-year-old church's $2.2 million restoration
was filed Oct. 4 in U.S. District Court in Reno and was first reported
by the Reno Gazette-Journal.
The diocese intends to file a motion
to dismiss the lawsuit by a Dec. 17 deadline on grounds that Nicosia's
termination had nothing to do with the allegations reported by him to
the park service, said Brother Matthew Cunningham, chancellor of the
diocese.
The termination resulted from Bishop Randolph Calvo's
responsibility to appoint a priest for the church, he said. No priest
was available when Nicosia was named its lay administrator in 2005.
"This
lawsuit claims that Mr. Nicosia was terminated because he was a
whistle-blower, which is not true," Cunningham said. "We didn't know
until this lawsuit was filed that he had ever contacted the National
Park Service."
The diocese denies Nicosia's allegations _
including the one concerning Conforte _ and intends to release a
financial audit of the church project, he said.
"The claims he's
making against the diocese are way over the edge," Cunningham said. "We
don't feel we have any reason to be concerned that there was financial
malfeasance or any inappropriate activity going on that would raise any
questions."
Nicosia, 70, of Virginia City, has been told by the
diocese not to enter the church except for regular Sunday Mass and not
to talk to parishioners and donors, Keyser-Cooper said.
"We
believe a jury listening to him will absolutely conclude he was very
wrongfully and shamefully treated by this church," she said.
Cunningham declined to comment on the restrictions imposed on Nicosia.
The
church, which was dedicated in 1877 after a fire gutted the original
one built in 1868, is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places.
SIC: LVS/USA