Saturday, December 18, 2010

US diocese agrees to pay $2M to siblings who claimed abuse by Irish ex-priest O'Grady

The Roman Catholic diocese in Stockton, California, has settled two more lawsuits involving a defrocked Irish priest who spoke openly in a 2006 documentary about molesting children.

The diocese released a statement to the Modesto Bee on Tuesday confirming it had agreed last June to pay $2 million to a brother and sister who alleged Oliver O'Grady molested them in the 1980s while they attended the Church of the Presentation and its school.

The Bee reports that the diocese has now paid out almost $21 million to O'Grady's victims.

O'Grady worked throughout Northern California from 1971 until 1993, when he was arrested for abusing two brothers. He served prison time and was deported to Ireland in 2000.

O'Grady was the subject of the Academy Award-nominated documentary, "Deliver Us From 
Evil."

SIC: WFP/USA